Review of Kurt Cobain: About a Son (2007) by Timothy S — 20 Apr 2010

Being a lover of all types of music and documentaries, I was looking forward to this film. I loved Nirvana, even got the opportunity to see them in concert just 6 months before Kurt passed. Cobain was a mystery in both life and death, so there should have been a lot of knowledge to be gained from the film. However, this is a very a-typical documentary, and it left me somewhat disappointed. For one thing, the artist never appears on screen outside of some still photos. We're left with interesting and funny, albiet not very revealing audio interview that was recorded shortly before his suicide. He mentions suicide, but we never gain any insight into why he actually did it. Judging from his words, you wouldn't see it coming.

There's also not a lot of talk about the rise of the band, or his life with his wife and daughter. They filmmakers also opted to keep the film completely free of Nirvana music, save for one sixty second sampling of "The Man Who Sold the World":. Also disappointing. The style of the film is odd that were left with shots of a school when Kurt is talking about his school life and scenes of a music store while he talks about getting into music. It takes some getting used to it, but once I did I settled into this quiet, thoughtful film that slowly won me over. Much like it's subject.