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On April 8th, 1994, Kurt Cobain's body was discovered in the garden room of his Lake Washington home. Beside him lay a suicide note on which Cobain had scribbled,"It's better to burn out than to fade away." And with that, the 27 year old musician, who's marriage to Courtney Love, and admitted drug problem had been the focus of constant media scrutiny, was gone.
Directed by AJ Schnack, and based on old Cobain audio interviews conducted by Michael Azerrad-- paired with footage of the various places the artist lived and worked, "Kurt Cobain About a Son" is a meditation into the curious and fragile mind of a reluctant icon.
At first I was confused. The movie seemed nothing more than a series of vaguely relevant images set against the nostalgic ramblings of a tired man. So I whispered to my friend:
Are you serious?
Where's Nirvana?
Where's Cobain?
Damn. Are we in the wrong theater...again?
But, we were in the right theater. And soon it became clear that keeping the viewer out of touch (much like the adolescent obscurity a young Cobain had felt while trying to make his way through life) was precisely the director's intent .
Chilling, and somewhat hypnotic at times, Cobain's voice suggest the fragility of a young artist trying to accept the burden of fame. At times, his thoughts seem so lucid they suggest wisdom beyond his years; while at others, his ramblings seem fractured and distant. But, as a whole, the film works-- peeling one more layer away from Cobain's enigmatic character.
This is not to say that the random images (which range from high-school wrestling matches, to portraits of the homeless) don't, at times, distract from the issue at hand. However, this experimental method is easily over-looked considering the fact that the speaker's mind, too, walked the line between reality and fantasy.
Much like the late Jim Morrison, Cobain's tragic story continues to captivate a generation of fans looking for closure. Yet, thirteen years later, with his life chronicled in numerous books, magazines, and documentaries, many questions remain unanswered; the most important being: Could this tragedy have been prevented? For this reason alone, the artist and his struggles remain necessary.
So be forewarned, if you're going to this movie to see Nirvana perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit," you wont.
This movie is the cinematic equivalent of flipping through the pages of a strangers diary. It's distant. It's personal...and it's very human. And considering the pain that Cobain conveys throughout the film, perhaps, in this instance, it is better to burn out than to fade away.
I recommend this film to those who realize that it stands on the shoulders of a reluctant giant, who wanted nothing more than to stand alone.
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