Kurt & Courtney

Kurt & Courtney (1998)

*** (out of 4)

Nick Broomfield's controversial documentary on the suicide of Kurt Cobain and the conspiracy theories around whether or not Courtney Love had him murdered. This is an incredibly strange documentary that has "witnesses" that no lawyer in the world would put on the stand but at the same time there's no question that the film will keep you glued to what you're watching. It's hard to say how much truth is found in this documentary or if everything here is nothing more that cruel gossip but I must say that it's rather obvious that Broomfield hates Love. There are a lot of problems with this documentary with the main one being Broomfield's attacks on Love at every chance he gets. It's clear he wants to know whether or not Love killed Cobain but I think there are quite a few cheap shots taken at her. The director is constantly saying how he wanted to use certain music but Love wouldn't allow it. Well, duh. Any music rights owner isn't going to let you freely use something so considering this film ran out of backers it's clear that they wouldn't have had the money to buy the music even if they were for sale. There's an episode at the end when the director could have asked her a question but didn't and instead gets on a stage and does it in public. Another cheap shot. With that said, the murder conspiracy is just something hard to wrap your brain around. Even if it was true, the witnesses here are cracked out heroin addicts so it's really hard to take what they say as the truth. You could argue that Kurt and Courtney were a part of this crowd, which I guess would be fair but I do wonder what motive some of these people had. It's clear that Love's father hates his daughter so his motives are certain. Others claim that they're terrified of Love yet they come out and say she murdered Kurt. No matter what your opinion on the truth is, it's hard to take any real evidence out of this documentary.

Nick Broomfield is a great documentary filmmaker - his pics on Heidi Fleiss & Aileen Wuoronos are especially effective. He was criticized for this film being too one-sided and featuring himself too much. But, as you watch the film, you realize he really had no choice because, everyone (especially people who are pro-Courtney) is terrified of suffering the wrath of Courtney (who is, no matter who you hear from, obviously a violent psychotic) if they speak out in Nick's film. This leaves only people with nothing to lose (addicts, losers, and disgruntled ex-employees) to interview. Thus, most of the footage consists of Broomfield desperately trying to glean ANY information on his chosen subject. What we learn we learn by reading between the lines. For instance, the very fact that Love put pressure on his financers from the very beginning of his filming speaks volumes. If Broomfield didn't set out to lambast her at the start, she certainly helped change his mind quickly. The film does little to clear up the decidedly murky circumstances of Cobain's death (though the guy seemed to be a walking suicidal time-bomb). What it does prove is that Love basically got her claws into Kurt, chewed him up, spit him out, and got his millions - all in a span of about three years! And it's all worth it to see Broomfield call an auditorium full of hypocrites - the ACLU - on the carpet for allowing Love, who regularly makes death threats to journalists, to be their spokesperson for free speech.

I think that this is a very sad movie. It should have been called "Jerry Springer Casting Session with Two Scenes of Courtney Love." Like how bored was Nick Broomfield? I think that he is obsessed with Courtney because he was acting like a stalker and following her around. I wish she would have gotten ahold of him. He totally wussed out several times when he could have talked to her and maybe gotten a real answer for his banal and cliched crapumentary. Instead he just interviewed weirdo after weirdo. He has nothing better to do than trash Courtney Love and blame her for everything. I think it was very funny to watch all the overdramatic people he found for this movie. It was like "Waiting For Guffman Part 2" except "Kurt & Courney" was not intended to be funny and suprisingly no one in the movie worked at a Dairy Queen. He acts like he is horrified of Courtney and we should all be afraid fo her. I think the movie clearly showed that she just wants to put the past in the past and move on with her life without some idiots following her around picketing about her dead husband.

Is it objective? No. Is it informative? Yes. Is is accurate? Only as accurate as those talked to. Is it an interesting film? Without a doubt.

This should have been called "Trying To Make 'Kurt & Courtney", because he never succeeds in making a decent look at their relationship but rather an intriguing look at his struggle to get the whole thing off the ground. He ran into a lot of trouble via Courtney Love and of course threw in his feelings toward her quite obviously in the film.

Fans of Kurt may respect it, fans of Courtney are likely to despise it. I admit I am more a fan of Kurt than I could ever be of Courtney, he just seems a hell of a lot more real to me and she has scared me, long before this film made, with all the image make-overs and lame self-promoting publicity stunts. So I had no problem watching her get ripped into in this documentary. But a warning to hardcore HOLE fans, you may get extremely frustrated!

Like it or hate it, it won't bore you!

Not being particularly interested in either Kurt or Courtney, I was surprised how director Nick Broomfield managed to attract me to his film. His unique style gets us involved with the story that no one really knows where it's going. Not even the director himself. This may prove frustrating to those who have become accustomed to polished and hollywoodized type of film making, or those who are looking for a clear "angle". To me however, it was a wonderful gallery of many slices of real life: from director's own challenges to one of the best documentary film endings I've ever seen.

Hats off to Nick Broomfield for his uncompromising style and bravery.