KineticSeoul This is actually a pretty touchy and immersive tape interview with Kurt Cobain. From where he comes from, what he dealt with while growing up, where his passion for music started. His involvement with his bandmates and how they got to where they got while dealing with personal issues. And his inner demons and what he is passionate about and etc. It's a fascinating and yet sad coverage of Kurt Cobain from his interviews. I just think instead of random pictures and video clips, it could have had animation and digital animation with Kurt Cobain. If your a fan of Nirvana or Kurt Cobain, this film is worth checking out. Just about everything when it comes to the interviews has been edited almost perfectly in a congruent manner. The main gripe I have about this movie, is that you will probably be better off listening to a CD of this instead of watching a movie of the interview.6/10

moonspinner55 Utilizing Michael Azerrad's 1992-1993 audio interviews with now-deceased grunge rocker Kurt Cobain as a springboard, director AJ Schnack has fashioned an impressionistic and absorbing, if thinly-derived, account of a reluctant celebrity, one who enjoyed the hungry years much more so than the sudden fame. Born in Abderdeen, Washington, Cobain recounts a carefree childhood up until his parents were divorced around the age of seven (something he found unacceptable); diagnosed with scoliosis in the eighth grade, and quickly turning to marijuana to ease both his spinal and stomach pain, Cobain freely admits he began to exhibit schizophrenic behavior and compulsive disorders. He acknowledges he was offered grants after high school to attend art school (for artwork that we never see) but instead wanted to focus on his music, which got him kicked out of the house. The streets (and friends' couches) seem a bizarre existence for an exceptionally gifted teenager, but Cobain found the independence freeing and fun ("I was being a bachelor!" he says). While Cobain is talking, Schnack's camera roams the streets of Aberdeen, nearby Montesano (where Cobain also briefly lived), Olympia, and finally Seattle, where true success found the icon at last. What appears to be the typical hard-luck road to stardom is shrugged off by Cobain, who always enjoyed the struggle more than the success. The film is a gamble--at times interesting, funny, irritating, and boring--but Kurt Cobain's words speak for themselves, and even non-fans might be intrigued by his unimaginable climb up from nowhere. **1/2 from ****

M W As kids pre Nevermind even Bleach my friends & I listened to a lot of demos & tapes from Seattle. The list of bands are numerous mostly The Melvins Green River & Soundgarden. We considered Nirvana the runts of the litter and didn't think they would ever make it beyond demos. At the time the word grunge wasn't something we used to describe this kind of metal rock crap we were listening to It was just druggie and hard sounding which fit our lifestyles more than Winger or Poison or even Metallica or Slayer. So when it all exploded it was very surreal kind of like being in a dark room that was suddenly flooded with light & crowded with people. Seattles little secret was no more. So that fact then was hard to digest for me & now some 16 years later as Van Sant & this doc further explore & dig into Cobains life I just think to myself Jesus he wasn't that interesting at all. Why are we still talking about this man as if he were this enigmatic figure who changed the world? Im not going to attack the man but heres where my head is at he left his daughter to be raised by Courtney Love. This is a large part of what makes this country so sick. Your worshiping a dead junkie not some anti-hero who died for his beliefs. This isn't about art or fashion & im not trying to be an a-hole but every time I see this woman benefit from this mans death or see another book another CD another movie I get very very sick to my stomach. Its disgusting & more importantly trivial. You want someone to look up to just take a look in the mirror.

bubdc1974 I attended a screening of -Kurt Cobain, About A Son at the Seattle International Film Festival. As you can expect with a hometown audience, the audience was ready to fall in love with this film going in. For the most part, the film did not disappoint. The most powerful aspect of the film is the fact that we hear Kurt Cobain's voice speaking his own words, a far better idea than the standard documentary format that features "experts" and fans talking about what made a person great. In the interviews, Cobain is happy, depressed, funny, bitter, excited, exhausted, gracious, resentful, kind, sarcastic ... but always engaging and interesting. It was also powerful to see the images of the towns in which Cobain lived -- Aberdeen, Olympia, and Seattle -- as he talked about different phases of his life. I agree with an earlier poster's comment that saving actual images of Cobain and Nirvana until the end really worked. After all, it is Cobain's voice that is his greatest legacy, and by filling our eyes with images of industrial workers, train trestles, run-down houses, liquor stores, street corners, and so on, the film reminds the viewer that Cobain was a man, first and foremost, and an icon later. And the soundtrack is AWESOME! Kurt talks a great deal about bands that influenced him as he grew up and started writing songs, and many of these artists were kind enough to grant permission to the film-makers to use their music for free. I hope that a soundtrack album is released at some point. My only complaint was the film-makers' choice to include images of places, buildings, and scenes (especially in Seattle) that were not around when Cobain was alive. How much did the Mariners' baseball stadium (which opened in 1999) "shape" the person who became Kurt Cobain, and I somehow doubt that Cobain spent any time at Starbucks. Nevertheless, I highly recommend the film to anyone who loves Nirvana or is fascinated by the man.