Kurt Cobain: About A Son
Sidetrack Films

Sidetrack Films, last week, quietly released a new film by “Gigantic” director AJ Schnack in a handful of theaters. The movie caused an instant stir, in part because the one and only star of the flick is Kurt Cobain. Culled together from hours of interviews between Cobain and Mike Azerrad (writer of the best book ever: “Our Band Could Be Your Life), “About A Son” is the true story of Cobain as told by Cobain. After months of being plagued by paparazzi, Cobain asked Azerrad to pen a tell all book that demystifies the exaggerated escapades of the legendary musician.

The book was an instant classic, and Azerrad didn’t want the tapes to go to waste. After a few conversations, Schnack and Azerrad wrote up a plan to make an artsy film that would forgo any conceptions of what a documentary should be. “About a Son” is a movie with little footage of Cobain, and zero interviews from the people who knew him. The music is from Cobain’s favorite bands, and the few photos are of his contemporaries.

The entire film is made up of a montage of stunningly shot video portraits of Cobain’s home state of Washington. The footage seems to represent what Cobain would have seen day in and day out. From long shots of lumber being loaded onto trucks to random shots of people in the area, this is Cobain’s life. The tapes are outstanding, and his voice comes across crisp and sometimes creepy. He killed himself a year after the interviews were completed.

For fans expecting a documentary, the first five minutes of the film are a little strange. Schnack has made a film that breaks most rules of film making, and it is kinda of weird to experience an hour and a half conversation with random footage playing. Sure, this would have worked fine as a CD on a Nirvana box set, but the play between the visuals and Cobain’s words makes for a moving celebration of Kurt’s life. Even if it does end on a somber note.