Kurt Cobain - About a Son
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.99 You Save: $9.96 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.88 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Kurt Cobain - About a Son
Movie Review: Innervisions
Summary: 4 Stars
It's nearly impossible to be a pop culture aficionado living here in Seattle and not be reminded of Cobain's profound impact on the music world. Every April, around the anniversary of his death, wreaths of flowers and hand taped notes begin to appear on a lone bench in a tiny public park sandwiched between the lakefront mansions I pass on my way to work every morning. Inevitably, I will see small groups of young people with multi-colored hair and torn jeans, making their pilgrimage and holding vigil around this makeshift shrine, located a block or two from the home where he took his own life.
"About a Son" is a reflective and uniquely impressionistic portrait of Cobain's short life. There are none of the usual talking head interviews or performance clips here; in fact there is nary a photo image of Cobain or Nirvana displayed until a good hour into the documentary. Nonetheless, director A.J. Schnack is holding an ace; he was given access to a series of surprisingly frank and intimate audio interviews that Cobain recorded at his Seattle home circa 1992-1993. He marries up Cobain's childhood and teenage recollections with beautifully shot footage of his hometown of Aberdeen and its Washington logging country environs. As Cobain's self-narrated life story moves to Olympia, then inevitably to Seattle, Schnack's POV travelogue follows right along. The combination of Cobain's narrative voice with the visuals has an eerie effect; you begin to feel that you are inside Cobain's temporal memories-kicking aimlessly around the depressing cultural vacuum of a blue collar logging town,walking the halls of his high school, sleeping under a railroad bridge,sitting on a mattress on a crash pad floor and practicing guitar for hours on end.
The film is almost an antithesis to Nick Broomfield's notorious and comparatively sensationalistic documentary "Kurt and Courtney". Whereas Broomfield set out with a backhoe to dig up as much dirt as quickly as possible in attempting to uncover Cobain's story, Schnack opts for a more carefully controlled excavation, gently brushing the dirt aside in order to expose the real artifact. And again, in spite of the relative dearth of actual visual images of its subject, "About a Son" succeeds in giving us a thoroughly intimate portrait of the artist. I also should give a nod to the fantastic soundtrack (although Nirvana themselves are conspicuously MIA). A unique and moving rockumentary.
Movie Review: Like listening to an audio commentary from beyond the grave.
Summary: 4 Stars
Since Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, many books have been written about him and his band Nirvana that try to get the real story about the musician and reluctant rock star. Arguably, the best book about him is Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad. He was able to get close to Cobain and gain his confidence, recording hours of audio interviews with the man on a wide variety of topics.
Director A.J. Schnack has taken these audio-taped conversations and assembled an unorthodox documentary on Cobain entitled About a Son that eschews the usual formula of footage of concerts and talking head soundbites from friends and family for footage of the cities he grew up and lived in: Aberdeen, Olympia, and Seattle.
At times, Cobain mentions a band or a song that influenced him and then it plays over the soundtrack which goes against the trend of populating the documentary with Nirvana songs. It's not surprising that Cobain comes across as a very thoughtful commentator about himself and life in general. The audio tapes allow Cobain's disembodied voice to narrate his own story. After awhile, however, watching About a Son is like listening to an audio commentary from beyond the grave.
"The Voices Behind About a Son" features Azerrad talking about how he conducted his interviews with Cobain, how he first met him, and so on. Schnack talks about he met Azerrad and pitched the idea of the film to him. Azerrad had resisted using his Cobain tapes in other projects for years but felt that this one was appropriate.
There is a selected scene commentary by director A.J. Schnack. He talks about some of the locations that they shot for the film and their specific connections to Cobain. For example, they were able to shoot in the house where the interviews with him were conducted.
Finally, there is "On Location: Scouting Video to Scene Comparison" that takes a look at the differences between the location scouting footage and photographs and the final version in the film.
Movie Review: ANSWERS A FEW QUESTIONS - AND POSES A FEW MORE
Summary: 4 Stars
If you were hoping for a second chance to crawl inside the mind of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, this is it, but the experience may not be quite what you expected it to be. As a documentary, "About a Son" is about as rewarding as it is frustrating. On one hand, it offers unparalleled access to Cobain's thoughts, since it is compiled exclusively from interview tapes. On the other hand, the video footage plays like a Travel Channel documentary for the State of Washington. You get to hear the contradictory nature of Cobain as he discusses points of inspiration and frustration, but there is virtually none of Nirvana's music to support his commentary. For the first hour, you don't even get to see Cobain's face, not even in photos. Instead, the film juxtaposes scenic shots of Washington with seemingly random faces from the area, as an attempt at capturing Cobain's environment.
"About a Son" compiles the psychological profile of a happy kid sliding into neurosis, depression and anti-social behavior. Cobain is forthcoming, but his own self-doubt and suspicious nature forces the viewer to question the degree of his honesty. His take on his own victimization is self-evident, but his view on his own self-perceived shortcomings and his drug use are dependent on his ability to be honest with himself. He claims that chronic digestive pain inspired thoughts of suicide, but later says "I hadn't had any stomach pain when I started doing drugs." Is that the truth, or is it a rationalization? The film doesn't answer the question so much as it presents the contradiction for the viewer's own interpretation. Ultimately, "About a Son" is a psychological study consisting of self-analytical interviews juxtaposed over third-party footage. Does it succeed? That depends entirely on your ability to suspend your own frustration. B Tom Ryan
Movie Review: An unusual bio-pic in Cobains own words
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is an unusual documentary, as it merges audio recordings of interviews with Kurt Cobain with visual video and stills recorded to illustrate the settings and events and themes discussed by Cobain. There are no Nirvana recordings in the film (though you'll hear some classic rock and punk tracks by the likes of Queen, Bowie, The Vaselines, and other acts who inspired Kurt Cobain). The interviews with Cobain are filled with thoughtful, poignant comments, social commentary, and very candid autobiographical material recorded in the last 2 years before Cobain's death. The scenery in Washington State ranges from the majestic Cascades and evergreens to the mundane of local clubs, libraries, and unkempt apartments. The score for this film is actually quite beautiful, it has nice ambient guitar work and is rather haunting, accentuated by the physical absence of Cobain, who appears in the film only in a photo montage near the end. This is an interesting film and provides much insight into Cobain... it's his interviews that are the foundation of the film, with the visuals just being an artistic overlay. Anyone who has an interest in modern rock music, in the generation that accompanied Cobain into adulthood, or just likes to see unique biographical films, is encouraged to check this one out.Movie Review: Kurt Cobain- About a Son
Summary: 4 Stars
I loved this documentary. It was unique because all of the narration was through Kurt Cobain, through an interview that he had with someone who I believe was writing a book about him. The visuals were really awesome and it just kind of gave you one of those shudders like wow, that's what he was thinking. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes Nirvana, or good documentaries.