27: Gone Too Soon

Instead of delving deep into the mythology of this "27 Club," the documentary just reviews the careers of a handful of prominent members offering no real insight and connecting very little of each segment to the main idea. And what little is connected is obvious and didn't require a documentary. Gee, yeah, Jim Morrison was moody and depressed and drinking himself to death. And...? Given that and a few glaring factual issues (most annoyingly, the guy who keeps asserting incorrectly that Nirvana had "one hit song" and "one hit album") this is a disappointing documentary that rambles on and on about the celebrities but sheds very little light on the actual title topic.

In rock music circles the '27 Club' is an infamous community, and not one you want to be a member of. Several famous musicians have died at the age of 27, giving rise to be it being considered a cursed number for musicians. This documentary examines the lives and deaths of the six most famous members of the club: Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.

One of the worst documentaries I've ever seen. Incredibly superficial in its coverage and filled with unimportant non-experts making ridiculous, uninformed statements about the causes of the six stars' deaths.

The main aim seems to be to find someone to blame, as long as it isn't the stars themselves. Initially there's a segment on drugs, filled with patronising, hyperbole-filled comments from nobody who has anything factual to say. The interviewees are a mish-mash of unknowns, only one of which is actually a medical professional (and even he seems more about making outlandish statements than giving a professional opinion). The only person of any fame, and the only rock star, interviewed is Gary Numan, and his "insights" often seem tangential to the discussion. All the rest are C-grade media personalities and music critics, giving their two cents.

Once we move into cataloguing each of the six stars' stories, there is very little about their histories. Even when the stars' careers are discussed, the interviewees show how clueless they are (the Kurt Cobain segment was rather laughable in how they tried to belittle his accomplishments). The main aim seems to be to demonise the parents, making them somehow responsible for their child's death. There are a few stabs at other stars (eg Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in the Brian Jones segment) and at record companies and the music industry in general but, once again, it is all done in non-factual, hyperbole-filled fashion.

I guess it wouldn't be the 21st century if there wasn't someone else to blame for anything bad that befell us...

Random people repeating stuff that we have already heard much more comprehensive and interesting in nice films such as 'Amy', 'Cobain: Montage of heck', 'Crossfire Hurricane', etc. Its all pretty superficial and unfocused and nothing new comes to the table.

It could have still be sort of entertaining if the artists would have played a role in the film, but there is almost no music from them, just a lot of cheap-sounding background music. Also almost no visual material, but lots of random close ups of tape machines, record players, random 60's shots and a lot of talking heads in a dull studio setting.

So not really worth your time if you ask me. Watch one of the films mentioned above instead, or read a good biography of these people.

27: Gone Too Soon (2018)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

I watch a lot of documentaries and and sometimes I run across a few where I really wonder if the filmmakers knew anything about the subject they are covering. This documentary takes a look at the "27 Club" of musicians who died at the young age of 27.

You know, you really have to question any documentary that covers this topic and not once mentions Robert Johnson and the notorious "Crossroads" where a lot of this legend began. What we get here are brief bios on Brian JOnes, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.

Even if you just look at 27: GONE TOO SOON as a documentary on those people it's still quite awful because everyone interviewed are rather annoying and their thoughts on the subject seem a bit... I guess stupid the word. I say that because it seems they want to narrow everyone down to some sort of stereotype and you've even got one guy questioning Cobain being included as a great musician.

The bio's of these people are quite poor and more times than not it seems those being interviewed are just guessing at things. These people have much better stories about them out there so there's no point in watching this documentary for that. The documentary also doesn't take a look at the myths or legends around the 27 Club and all in all this here is just rather poorly made and laughable.

I was hoping for some insight into the reasons for the untimely deaths of some of my favourite artists, but all you get is cheesy back ground music and some random people who say heroin lots of times and that they had a difficult upbringing. The fact is that the 27 club is nonsense, all these genuine talented musicians resorted to drinking excessively and using hard drugs for many different reasons and to try and badge this as a club is pointless and disrespectful. Total waste of time, go and search out the real stories of each of these special talents for your self, read, listen and YouTube.