Kurt Cobain: About a Son

Utilizing Michael Azerrad's 1992-1993 audio interviews with now-deceased grunge rocker Kurt Cobain as a springboard, director AJ Schnack has fashioned an impressionistic and absorbing, if thinly-derived, account of a reluctant celebrity, one who enjoyed the hungry years much more so than the sudden fame. Born in Abderdeen, Washington, Cobain recounts a carefree childhood up until his parents were divorced around the age of seven (something he found unacceptable); diagnosed with scoliosis in the eighth grade, and quickly turning to marijuana to ease both his spinal and stomach pain, Cobain freely admits he began to exhibit schizophrenic behavior and compulsive disorders. He acknowledges he was offered grants after high school to attend art school (for artwork that we never see) but instead wanted to focus on his music, which got him kicked out of the house. The streets (and friends' couches) seem a bizarre existence for an exceptionally gifted teenager, but Cobain found the independence freeing and fun ("I was being a bachelor!" he says). While Cobain is talking, Schnack's camera roams the streets of Aberdeen, nearby Montesano (where Cobain also briefly lived), Olympia, and finally Seattle, where true success found the icon at last. What appears to be the typical hard-luck road to stardom is shrugged off by Cobain, who always enjoyed the struggle more than the success. The film is a gamble--at times interesting, funny, irritating, and boring--but Kurt Cobain's words speak for themselves, and even non-fans might be intrigued by his unimaginable climb up from nowhere. **1/2 from ****

Cinematic Documentary has blossomed the last 10 years as more and more artists find reality interesting enough to make them stay away from "creating a world of their own", a.k.a. fiction. It was matter of time before the musical documentary would take the lead on this new interest in this genre of film-making -just like on TV before.

In those last years countless films have been released on anything that has to do with music -any kind of music. The most interesting of them weren't those about my (or your) favorite artists, but rather the ones that had a real cinematic approach on the way each was presenting the story. Moreover, the best of them were/are those that could be something more than just a "fairy-tale of drugs and self-destruction" or a "scientific musical analysis".

"About a Son" manages to pass this "test". Interested or not in Kurt Cobain, you cant ignore its cinematography; and that alone will be enough for you to sit and watch the film. But beyond this, the structure of the movie and director's subtle comments on Cobain's words are what make this a great documentary.

This is as close and personal you'll ever get to Kurt Cobain on film. Don't miss it.

A quiet, slow, but haunting meditation on the late rock hero may be an acquired taste for pre-existing fans, but ultimately ends up being a haunting character study regardless. Why this documentary really sticks out is in it's approach. Guided merely by audio clips of one of Cobain's last, and most in-depth interviews, the director shows long and lingering images of his surroundings while we listen to the troubled, quite misperceived star vent his frustrations with celebrity and recall his modest upbringings.

While slightly overlong with silent pauses in between statements, About A Boy is unique, intimate, and ultimately extremely satisfying in distilling some of the myths surrounding this icon and helping to re-humanize him again by giving us the visual counterparts to Cobain's world, without the hype.

I attended a screening of -Kurt Cobain, About A Son at the Seattle International Film Festival. As you can expect with a hometown audience, the audience was ready to fall in love with this film going in. For the most part, the film did not disappoint. The most powerful aspect of the film is the fact that we hear Kurt Cobain's voice speaking his own words, a far better idea than the standard documentary format that features "experts" and fans talking about what made a person great. In the interviews, Cobain is happy, depressed, funny, bitter, excited, exhausted, gracious, resentful, kind, sarcastic ... but always engaging and interesting. It was also powerful to see the images of the towns in which Cobain lived -- Aberdeen, Olympia, and Seattle -- as he talked about different phases of his life. I agree with an earlier poster's comment that saving actual images of Cobain and Nirvana until the end really worked. After all, it is Cobain's voice that is his greatest legacy, and by filling our eyes with images of industrial workers, train trestles, run-down houses, liquor stores, street corners, and so on, the film reminds the viewer that Cobain was a man, first and foremost, and an icon later. And the soundtrack is AWESOME! Kurt talks a great deal about bands that influenced him as he grew up and started writing songs, and many of these artists were kind enough to grant permission to the film-makers to use their music for free. I hope that a soundtrack album is released at some point. My only complaint was the film-makers' choice to include images of places, buildings, and scenes (especially in Seattle) that were not around when Cobain was alive. How much did the Mariners' baseball stadium (which opened in 1999) "shape" the person who became Kurt Cobain, and I somehow doubt that Cobain spent any time at Starbucks. Nevertheless, I highly recommend the film to anyone who loves Nirvana or is fascinated by the man.

This is the official story. I don't think many people realise that that a lot of the stuff written about Kurt and Nirvana was either sensationalised, or just completely made up. This story though is one of the very few true stories. It is based on Michael Azerrad's book, "Come As You Are", which was official and was made with the help of the band, and their friend's and families.

This movie is made WITH the actual discussions of Kurt with Michael. So the entire movie is basically just Kurt talking, and the movie makers then just added pictures to what Kurt was talking about.

Sometimes it's a photograph or a painting, but a lot of the time it is actual footage of the people and places in this story, and it makes it so much easier to visualise what Kurt is talking about, when it presented so well for you like that.

If you have read the book, this is like a watered down version of that, but it is still worth a watch because you are hearing it from Kurt himself, and you are hearing the quotes in their original form. For the book, some of the quotes were taken apart and put in different stages in the story to make it fit together properly. So here it is in it's raw form which is interesting. And there are a few things that didn't make the book.

I really liked the visual aspect though. Some said it should have just been an audio CD, well I completely disagree, (as do other people). The pictures visualise everything for you, so you get the full emotional experience. Your mind doesn't have to wander around, trying to think about what Kurt is saying. The pictures are already here for you, so it gives you time to think about what Kurt is actually saying. It also shows you a lot of things that are in the story. The actual places Kurt lived and hung out etc. Hearing him talking and seeing the footage of this stuff just seemed to fit together perfectly, and it surprises me that some people didn't appreciate that.

Seeing Olympia, Aberdeen, and Montesano etc.. it helps show the story that is being told.

Basically this gets two thumbs up from me. It's a must watch for a Nirvana / Kurt fan, and probably an interesting watch for people who aren't even fans.

My only notes to you would be that it is pretty sad, and also it a VERY thinned out version of what you get from the book, so if you want more, you really should get the book too.