Customer Reviews

Kurt Cobain - About a Son

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1 star:		(5)

 

 

It is hard to find a single figure that looms larger in recent rock history than Kurt Cobain. It's harder still to come across an artist whose true nature was so obscured, even distorted, by his own legend. About a Son, based on interviews with Come as You Are author Michael Azzerad, offers a rare, sincere, and deeply moving glimpse into Cobain's private world. In the process, it reveals a side of the late musician often left out of sensationalized media portrayals of his life, drug use, and tragic end--he is perceptive, thoughtful, and quietly articulate, reflecting on his experiences with a candor unmatched in other interviews.

What makes the film unusual among documentaries is director AJ Schnack's determination to stay out of the way and allow Cobain to tell his own story. Eschewing the typical documentary format in which the viewer's gaze is focused on the subject, About a Son creates the sense of looking out through Kurt's eyes, seeing the images he would have seen and hearing the music he listened to. There are no Nirvana songs--just the music that inspired and influenced Cobain--and the visuals are a montage of evocative images of Aberdeen, Olympia, and Seattle. Listening to Kurt's sleepy, gravelly narration (most of the interviews were conducted in the wee hours of the morning) against the backdrop of these images elicits the feeling of taking a long stroll and talking intimately with an old friend.

As you stroll through Washington streets slicked with rain, passing floating bundles of Aberdeen timber, punk rock Olympia kids, and the city lights of Seattle, Kurt talks about his parents' divorce, his lifelong sense of isolation, the unexpected consequences of fame, and his unabashed devotion to his wife and daughter. He tells of a life clearly fraught with pain and depression, yet fueled with creative passion. The personality he reveals is one of contradictions: the desire for recognition vs. the desire for solitude; deep concern for humanity vs. revulsion toward humanity's darker side; a harsh reality vs. a longing for the simplicity of childhood.

About a Son is as much a portrait of the Pacific Northwest as it is a rendering of Kurt Cobain. Alongside breathtaking cinematography, Cobain's narrative shows that many of these private contradictions were the product of a deep-seated ambivalence toward his environment. As a child, he was alternately comforted and stifled by small-town Aberdeen; as a budding artist, he was nurtured by Olympia's creativity, yet felt like an outsider; in his Seattle days, he helped place the city on the musical map while deriding media hype about the "grunge scene."

As the lone figure of Cobain fades at the film's end, one cannot help but feel the loss of an extraordinary artist--and an extraordinary individual--as he vanishes from sight.

Until now I don't think I have ever seen a film or piece of journalism that has accurately conveyed Cobain's impact on the world and the worlds affect on him. For most of my teenage years I admired Cobain's punk rock disdain for the press and interviews. But it made him a very mysterious figure. Some how this film maker got Kurt to sit down and speak candidly for hours about his life as it pertains to Nirvana. The cinematography is awesome. You can almost feel his ghost haunting each frame as Kurt's voice narrates the story of Nirvana. This film is really moving. If you own one film about Nirvanas visual history it should be this one.

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.

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 a huge Nirvana and Kurt Cobain fan. I've read countless books and biographies. I have seen a lot of footage.

This movie was unique in the way it was put together but if you know anything about Kurt Cobain or have read anything about him, this will be old news to you. The interviews used have been used before and I felt like I was watching old reruns. I actually fell asleep midway through and woke up toward the end to shut it off.

This was a huge disappointment! I agree with other low-rating reviewers who wrote that this would have been better as an audio-only release. Maybe packaged with a ViewMaster and picture discs of the actual people whose lives were being presented--yeah, that sounds better. I turned this snoozefest off after 15 minutes, and I would have been really upset if I would have paid to "see" it!

My formative years were The Grunge Years. I was the perfect age for this, coming into my teens with Nirvana and having Kurt Cobain be my patron saint. However, looking back on that time, perhaps the timing was just perfect for me as well as the rest of the world. I admired Kurt, but became disillusioned as time went on. He would die, and I and the rest of the Gen X kids grew up without him. It was a very special experience, as well as a haunting one to hear his voice from beyond the grave. What was even more haunting about this was the fact that we hardly see any images of Kurt in the movie, mostly stills of his hometown of Aberdeen and Seattle, and nameless people on the streets. Kurt was the voice of disillusioned youth that we see on the streets in this film, and in many ways still is.

Kurt tells us about his childhood, his teen years, his stomach, his becoming a musician, and his epic rise to fame. Who better to tell you than the man himself? Courtney Love, today the infamous tabloid queen she is, is barely in it (thank God), but will always be linked to Kurt and Nirvana's story, nor is Dave or Krist except for a brief mention or photograph here and there. The voice takes you into his world, making you feel like you are really there with him in his mind. His alienation and feelings of inadequacy really speak to the viewer, making you feel and understand so many things about him. There were so many conflicts and feelings to explore, too many to list here in a review.

And now, he's gone. He left us because ... Well, just because. He left behind his music, he was an artist, he touched people's lives, including mine. Kurt wanted to give us his statement, and his project ended up being the last great rock band to close out the twentieth century. The memories are wonderful, his music is timeless, and he lived by his own terms, and he was human instead of a god.

I had very high hopes for this DVD, but it turned out to be a little boring. I lost interest very quickly.

This movie was a moving experience; I took my son to see "About a Son" at an artsy theater in Chicago on his 15th birthday. Knowing we both enjoy Nirvana, I nonetheless braced myself for a grungy "sentimental journey." But then to our rapt enjoyment, this movie turned out NOT to be the typical "between the eyes" rockumentary crammed with repetitively familiar nostalgic imagery and dubbed in with music from the artist. In short this was not a nauseating musical rock video shrine. FYI - you don't see Kurt's or any band member's face. And you don't hear any music from Nirvana - and, you don't need to.

Instead, "About a Son" takes you through the Pacific Northwest, tastefully focusing on images that trace the words in Kurt's interview. I was very taken by the seamless "being there" feel of this film, as though the narration was in real-time with what was being shown visually.

All-in-all "About a Son" was highly-creative in combining fact with visual interpretation - and in doing so among the best "rockumentaries" I've watched. It is an interpretation of images, selected to match what Kurt was saying. You had a feel for him as a child and teen, his core family and the disintegration of it, for the deprivation he lived through, for the music he listened to, a discussion about babies and bottles, and some saddening foreshadowing of his suicide a year after the interview.

Would this movie stand on its own without knowledge and/or a fondness for Kurt Cobain and his music? Actually, I believe it would be interesting in and of itself - even if you had never known of Kurt - or never heard Nirvana's music. It is a warm yet subtle film about an interesting and likeable guy, whose immense creativity and drive sprang from humble and confining surroundings. Kurt would have liked "About a Son" for not being banal and obvious. The power is in its simplicity.

I just bought the DVD and I'm anxiously looking forward to another viewing on a smaller screen. Oh - also an interesting soundtrack works wonders without incorporating Nirvana's songs. My son and I waited to listen to Nirvana on the way home.

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.