Review of Last Days (2005) by Kyle S — 06 Mar 2011

Perhaps my praise of this film stems from my near-obsession with the mythology and richly experiential psychological mystique surrounding Kurt Cobain. Perhaps that very particular sort of priming hyper-attuned me to immersing myself in this highly subjective film experience.

But I do know that, for me, it was one of the more quietly powerful experiences I have had in a long time. I want to gush about it, much as I always have about Cobain himself, but I am simply too haunted by the film to distract from that, its powerful mood and (lack of) singular message.

Furthermore, to limit this to the scope of Cobain's strange and hardly describable legacy would be doing Van Zant's transcendent and powerful art a disservice. If the film expressly connects to anything about Cobain at all, it only does so in as much as it illustrates why it truly is better to burn out than fade away.

The eerie headspace found here is something I am sure I will revisit time and time again. Again, forgive my bias, but I love this film.