Customer Reviews

Kurt Cobain: About A Son [Blu-ray]

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I thought this was such an awesome movie. If you love NIRVANA and want to listen to the stories directly out of the horses mouth then this is for you. This movie is a collage of all the interviews for the book Come As You Are: The Nirvana Story. Great book by the way. In the end it made me sob like a little girl. Very true. Very real. Very moving. Very sad.

For himself, Kurt Cobain did one thing exactly right and that was give this audio interview. I love that it was conducted at midnight, or early in the morning giving a beautiful witching-hour feel. The first time I saw it was on netflix and had no idea what it was other than being drawn by his face on the cover. I almost got bored at the start and turned it off because I thought it was a reinactment and completely fake. I wasn't even sure it was about him, I thought maybe I had misunderstood the title and it was just an allusion to him.

The film just starts. No mention of his name or who is talking or what the visuals are. I wasn't even sure it was his voice I was hearing. In fact, I was sure it wasn't him. A friend, maybe. Or the director. But not him. The person speaking sounded so strangely normal. Slowly, tho, the realization that it might actually be Cobain talking, and then that it *must* be him talking and could be no one else, evolves. And, then, just wow - I was sucked right in. It's like listening to a private conversation and I was astonished by his authetic, unhurried, un-caring-to-entertain-anyone-whatsoever self.

After I'd realized it was his voice, I watched it dawned on me, again, slowly, that the film was scouting real locations specifically-personal to Cobain's life, and was illustrating what he's talking about. I assumed this for quite awhile because I also thought that might be wishful thinking on my part. But no. Listening to him talk you eventually realize are staring at his old room, old houses, old haunts. Did he really sleep in this trashed room? Or go to see bands in this bar? Or sit in this library when he was homeless? Really?

And, then, that's when the profundity of the film sunk in for me. In 50 years from now when all these places no longer exist, when the place his dad worked at is a Condo complex and the libray is torn down remodelled and that house is demolished this little unassuming, yet incredibly-powerful film will be a historical-marker to which nothing else will really compare.

How this sensitive but unglamorus movie ended-up riveting and shellshocking me with perfect unassuming subtly by Cobain's accepting-of-himself demenor, his story which asks for no mercy whatsoever, and voice that suggests he was much more than rocker, punk, rebel, any of that music-industry posturing becomes completely fabulous because you realize: it doesn't even matter if you see him. You end-up seeing so much more by not seeing him for the vast majority of the film. It's not about his photogenic-face. It really was his voice. And this movie showcases that and the man.

The people responsible for this film did everything right. It's so simple and brilliantly-genius to let his words, fully, do the talking; no mtv-style editing, flash, or dazzle. And, slowly but surely, you are curiously-brought along into the story without a single ounce of force or even invitation from the director or Kurt himself. And, then you realize why you like his music as Cobain tells it all just like the poet he is - without trying, just 'being'. Cliched, it may sound, but astoundingly, and with a much-retained innocence, Cobain cites the uncomplaining tale that shaped him.

If this was Kurt Cobain when the mask of the music-machine and it's industry was pulled aside, all I can say is: I aspire to his thoughtful, responsible, but unapologetic self-acceptance. Watch this film when you're in the mood to unwrap an engima and view one human's soul. He's the modern, male version of our beloved Alice in Wonderland, forever falling down the rabbit hole but never really losing his way at all. A film of pure autobiography, without steering or tainting. It's vulnerable without ever being crass. No one is trying to shock. But the shock ends up being Cobain's perfect, quiet self-possession. To-date, it's the most authentic, stand-alone surviving way to experience Kurt genius, artistry, and uncomplicated humanity. I listen to him explain his prolific life and I hear reflected back the similarly-spoke artistic plights of Mozart.

It's a poignent, slow-savored treasure for any fan of Cobain or Nirvana but it's equally great for lovers of the creative process, and people who, somehow, manage blindly to retain the unstoppable faith to follow their passions, come what may. And Kurt Cobain was all those things - and a little bit more, besides.

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.

I am very impressed with Kurt Cobain, but I just hooked up a Blu-Ray device and haven't listened to it yet. (I assume it's great)

I've been a Nirvana fan since 1990. Theres very little footage or interviews that i haven't seen. And this is one DVD i shouldn't have purchased. Theres no actual "footage", its all audio with random shots of "small town nowhere". The interviews are interesting, but not worth purchasing on Blu-ray.