Review of Kurt Cobain: About a Son (2007) by Nathan M — 01 Dec 2007

"No matter how cleanly we live our lives, we're not going to survive this." -Kurt Cobain. This compilation of interview tapes taken in 1992 and 1993 set to artfully coordinated and pristine visual documentary of various locales of Washington state serves as an entertaining and illuminating film that serves as both an autobiographical video essay and a transcendental experience that takes one on a journey back in time and into Kurt's grungy shoes.

The film is structured around the three primary stages of Kurt's life: growing up in the coastal logging town of Aberdeen, maturing and growing creatively in the bohemian state capital Olympia, and finally transition to big label recording and instant international fame in Seattle.

The recordings are well restored and show the non-media version of Kurt, who is intelligent, articulate, and humble, not to mention very sensitive and vulnerable. The sweeping, glossy cinematography compares well to a much more relaxed version of BBC's Planet Earth and creates an atmosphere that is directly linked to Kurt's descriptions and recollections.

Overall, I think the fact that Kurt is the narrator of this piece gives one of the most reliable accounts on one of America's biggest and most controversial musical icons.