It has only been recently that I've delved back into the world of Nirvana. I put them away for quite a bit of time, sold all of their albums (except Bleach), and moved on. This fake idol worship of a man, who put out ok records at best, really didn't strike a chord with me. As an educated music fan, I understood the implications of Nirvana, but for anything past '94 I could've cared less.
Well, its been a number of years and the trains are on time for a biopic, and an obscene amount of Kurt Cobain merchandise hitting Spencer's inventory. Maybe this is how my parents felt when I wore a Hendrix shirt?
I never read Michael Azerrad's book. I never read Kurt's diaries/journal. It just always seemed inappropriate.
When I heard about this documentary, I'm not going to lie--I had no interest in seeing it. I presupposed that it was going to be the normal talking head doc with advertised "unseen" footage, etc. I read more about it, and found out the premise. Take pre-existing Cobain interview snippets, attach them to "god shot" footage of where is lived, and try to make a rough outline of the man, so many people call an alternogod. The premise/execution interested me more than the topic.
Yesterday I received this in the mail from Netflix. It was 2am and I couldn't sleep, having been awoken by my neighbor and his friends. I left my wife in bed, and retreated the couch. Hunkered down with a leftover Calzone, and pressed play.
I'm not sure why biopics are made when films like this exist. They tell a story so much more brilliantly than a dramatic film could even hope to touch upon. Biopics tend to be vehicles to establish its star, to say "oh how they captured the spirit of xxx." With a doc in this nature, there is no way to capture the spirit other than from the spirits own mouth, which instantly leads to a credible vessel.
The filmmakers are a sly bunch. They start the film with a quote from Cobain saying how uneventful, how everyman his life is. He cannot fathom why someone would be interested in his life, when all his life he just wanted to fit in. Obviously the ironic point being, he was anything but ordinary, and yes, many people will, in fact, find his life interesting.
You understand the premise. Kurt talking. Yes. But what makes this film work on a greater level is the cinematography. Its really quite mesmerizing and beautiful. They have seemingly found the beauty in a very decaying area of the country. The Pacific Northwest is gorgeous with its trees, and waterways, but then there are the bitter, industrial wastelands that is the logging industry. Somehow through all the slopbucket, sawdust encrusted streets, the camera lens found little shining rays of beauty to withhold, and that's only Kurt's formative years.
Obviously there is an inherent danger to this doc. You could at any moment wander into the pillar building business. Luckily for us viewers, we are grounded systematically with lifestyle shots of residents of various towns (Olympia, Aberdeen, etc). These go perfectly in grounding Kurt into a regular resident of the towns. You can only imagine him walking the streets, passing these unsuspecting people.
Another great element was the soundtrack. Once again, this could've been stuffed with Nirvana songs that roughly made sense in the timeline of Cobain's life. Instead, we're treated with time-appropriate songs, and wonderful music of Ben Gibbard and Steve Fisk.
About A Son leaves you with a trace of understanding of Cobain. But take it with a grain of salt. Even a 90 minute, straight-from-the-horses-mouth doc can't even begin to sum up Cobain's or anyone's existence. It is however an intelligent look at a man who was thrusted into a leadership role of an entire generation by the media. It's also a beautifully shot and edited piece of work that stands against itself and despite being about Cobain, never uses him as a crutch.
I just watched this with my parents and it kind of blew me away. Not so much because it was great filmmaking (although it WAS very good, and like you said, did so much more than a biopic would), but mostly because it's fucking scary how similar Kurt Cobain and I are in terms of world views. I honestly felt like I was listening to my inner thoughts for 80% of the comments he made. It was especially surprising because I've never particularly related to the music - I love Bleach to death, but was never really obsessed with any of the others.
I really wish I had watched it alone, though. My parents played up the whole martyr aspect of his life, shaking their heads in "dissapointment" whenever he'd talk about his heroin addiction or suicidal thoughts. I feel like anyone who reacts similarly is exactly the type of "superficial" spoiled, starfucking-American person that Kurt denounces through a lot of the first half.
Overall, it was much better than I thought it would be, and will probably be something I watch again every couple years when I'm in the right mood.
