Kurt Cobain - About a Son
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Movie Reviews of Kurt Cobain - About a Son
Movie Review: Amazing piece of artistic film
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is truly a something worthy of the genius Cobain was. If you're a true Nirvana fan then it really is a must see. Cobain's candid commentary about his life growing up and the formation of the band go hand in hand with the beautiful cinematography and music bed throughout the film. I was really moved not only as a Nirvana fan but as fan of documentary and film all together.Movie Review: good, but gets a little boring
Summary: 5 Stars
in this movie is just a video of seattle and aberdeen and olympia, which is where kurt lived and grew up, but even though there is an interview with him it does get boring just watching those areas for 2- 3 hours. but i would recommend it.Movie Review: Great DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
It is great to finally learn about Kurt in his own, spoken word. The only problem I had was some of the background images didn't seem to go along with what Kurt was saying, but on the hole a great DVD for any Nirvana/Kurt Cobain fan.Movie Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
This is unique to the other million movies on Kurt Cobain. I enjoyed this very much, and after years of obsession it's nice to finally see something I never have before.Movie Review: Are you a Martian?
Summary: 4 Stars
Unless someone magically comes across one lying in a box somewhere, we are never going to get a Kurt Cobain autobiography. The closest thing we'll get is "Kurt Cobain - About a Son," a documentary cobbled out of Michael Azerrad's interviews with the late rock'n'roll star -- and Cobain both explores his own past and strips away some of his legends.
The interviews took place in the early nineties over the course of a few months, about a year before Cobain's tragic death. Some are in person, and a few are over the phone. They're pleasantly informal and laid-back, since Cobain munches on a sandwich during one segment, and is occasionally interrupted by Courtney.
Over the course of several interviews, Cobain reflects on his life before rock stardom -- his childhood and his hometown, his formative years of mischief, his love of punk rock, his desire to be a rock star, and the early days of Nirvana. Cobain also contemplated drugs, health problems, his allure to flies, his quirky art, Courtney Love, fatherhood, turtles, misanthropy, death, oregano, journalists (I guess Azerrad was an exception), his bandmates, being onstage, the future of rock'n'roll, and his own reputation.
Since the interviews were taped with sound only, director AJ Schnack fills the screen with soundless, strangely ambient images from Seattle, Olympia and Aberdeen. Musicians, stores, logging machines, streets, forests, houses and faces pass by quietly -- as well as some weird cartoons. It feels a little like a nostalgic look through Cobain's own eyes.
Cobain himself was a remarkable person who has been overshadowed by his own posthumous legend (even when he was alive). In these interviews, he sounds like an intelligent man sitting down to have a frank conversation with a friend -- he sounds relaxed, laid-back and mostly at peace with his life as it then was, particularly when talking about his child (he recounts how when he saw her in a sonagram, she was making the "hook 'em horns"). He has a lot of funny anecdotes, and a childlike fascination with the world that is truly endearing.
But as the interviews go on, we start seeing the multifaceted, contradictory creature that Cobain was -- darkness/light, loathing/fascination with people, childlike/painfully mature, earnest/jaded, passionate/lazy, craving fame yet somewhat disgusted by it.
It's obvious he had learned a lot from his past, since he spends a lot of time analyzing his own youthful mind and how people saw him ("I usually am enjoying myself; I'm hardly ever depressed anymore"). Near the end, he even comments that his own personal problems are not unusual or the worst, showing that he had grown up a lot -- when asked if his was a sad story, Cobain laughs and says, "No... not really, I mean... it's nothing that's amazing or new, that's for sure."
And Cobain made some eerily prophetic statements as well -- he complains about rock'n'roll ("It's sad to think what the state of rock'n'roll will be in about twenty years from now...") and discusses death ("If I was gonna blow my head off with a gun, I may as well take the risk of dying from drugs").
"Kurt Cobain: About a Son" is a bittersweet experience -- it offers some truly beautiful insights into the mind of a true artist, but leaves you wishing he hadn't departed quite so soon.