NYT Review: Kurt Cobain About A Son
blacknapkins
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http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/movies/03coba.html
October 3, 2007
The Voice of a Rock Star in His Twilight
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: October 3, 2007
It’s hard to know who the audience might be for the documentary oddity “Kurt Cobain About a Son,” but I bet its subject, the guy who’s still being called on to entertain us even after his death, would have hated it.
Directed, if that’s the right word, by A J Schnack, the film weds about an hour and a half of audio interviews by the journalist Michael Azerrad with a stream of pretty visual images of places and unidentified people shot in and around where, for much of his too-short, 27-year life, Mr. Cobain lived, loved (if never enough, it seems), labored, played guitar, shot heroin and created beautiful, angry, popular music with the other members of Nirvana. In standard narrative fashion, these words and pictures have been shaped into three vague acts, named after the Washington cities — Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle — most associated with Mr. Cobain or at least most familiar to those who live outside the state.
If you’ve read the articles and seen the movies about Mr. Cobain, you will recognize most of the details: the caring aunt, the nice teacher, the gay friend, the distant father, the stupid people, the cool artists and one wild chick. Mr. Cobain, sounding alternately friendly, guarded, bored, tired and, at times, slurred, was at this stage in his life well practiced in the art of self-creation. He was weary with fame by the time of the interviews; many were recorded at night at one of his homes, and were conducted from December 1992 through late March 1993, about a year before he died. Mr. Azerrad amassed more than 25 hours of interviews, eventually using them for his 1993 book, “Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana.”
“Kurt Cobain About a Son” doesn’t add much to the picture many of us carry around in our heads (and hearts) of its subject, and it certainly can’t begin to explain why this wondrously talented, delicate creature decided to shoot himself in the head with a shotgun in early April 1994. Hearing Mr. Cobain talk about shooting himself with a shotgun, as he does several times in the film, doesn’t add a thing to our knowledge; it’s painful to hear, even now. Mostly, it feels intrusive and disrespectful. Nobody forced Mr. Cobain to talk about himself, of course; at the time of the interviews, he was trying to clean up his and his wife’s image. (You hear Courtney Love briefly, at one point.) It didn’t work. And then he died.
What else is there that we really need to know?
KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON
Opens today in Manhattan.
Directed and edited by A J Schnack; based on conversations between Kurt Cobain and Michael Azerrad for the book “Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana,” by Mr. Azerrad; director of photography, Wyatt Troll; music by Steve Fisk and Benjamin Gibbard; produced by Shirley Moyers, Noah Khoshbin and Chris Green; released by Balcony Releasing and Sidetrack Films. At the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 97 minutes. This film is not rated.
October 3, 2007
The Voice of a Rock Star in His Twilight
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: October 3, 2007
It’s hard to know who the audience might be for the documentary oddity “Kurt Cobain About a Son,” but I bet its subject, the guy who’s still being called on to entertain us even after his death, would have hated it.
Directed, if that’s the right word, by A J Schnack, the film weds about an hour and a half of audio interviews by the journalist Michael Azerrad with a stream of pretty visual images of places and unidentified people shot in and around where, for much of his too-short, 27-year life, Mr. Cobain lived, loved (if never enough, it seems), labored, played guitar, shot heroin and created beautiful, angry, popular music with the other members of Nirvana. In standard narrative fashion, these words and pictures have been shaped into three vague acts, named after the Washington cities — Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle — most associated with Mr. Cobain or at least most familiar to those who live outside the state.
If you’ve read the articles and seen the movies about Mr. Cobain, you will recognize most of the details: the caring aunt, the nice teacher, the gay friend, the distant father, the stupid people, the cool artists and one wild chick. Mr. Cobain, sounding alternately friendly, guarded, bored, tired and, at times, slurred, was at this stage in his life well practiced in the art of self-creation. He was weary with fame by the time of the interviews; many were recorded at night at one of his homes, and were conducted from December 1992 through late March 1993, about a year before he died. Mr. Azerrad amassed more than 25 hours of interviews, eventually using them for his 1993 book, “Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana.”
“Kurt Cobain About a Son” doesn’t add much to the picture many of us carry around in our heads (and hearts) of its subject, and it certainly can’t begin to explain why this wondrously talented, delicate creature decided to shoot himself in the head with a shotgun in early April 1994. Hearing Mr. Cobain talk about shooting himself with a shotgun, as he does several times in the film, doesn’t add a thing to our knowledge; it’s painful to hear, even now. Mostly, it feels intrusive and disrespectful. Nobody forced Mr. Cobain to talk about himself, of course; at the time of the interviews, he was trying to clean up his and his wife’s image. (You hear Courtney Love briefly, at one point.) It didn’t work. And then he died.
What else is there that we really need to know?
KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON
Opens today in Manhattan.
Directed and edited by A J Schnack; based on conversations between Kurt Cobain and Michael Azerrad for the book “Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana,” by Mr. Azerrad; director of photography, Wyatt Troll; music by Steve Fisk and Benjamin Gibbard; produced by Shirley Moyers, Noah Khoshbin and Chris Green; released by Balcony Releasing and Sidetrack Films. At the IFC Center, 323 Avenue of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 97 minutes. This film is not rated.
"Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is the best."
~ FZ ~
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is the best."
~ FZ ~
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Comments
i don't feel like i need to know every single detail about his life, knowing that he was a good musician ( who stripped music down to it's core, thus making it simple but catchy) is enough for me.
but, thank you for posting this