Pitchfork

In his review of the soundtrack to Kurt Cobain: About a Son, our own Chris Dahlen wrote that AJ Schnack's documentary "has the uncanny effect of making its subject seem like he's still alive." It's true. By combining audio of early 90s Cobain interviews conducted by journalist Michael Azerrad with visuals of the present-day Pacific Northwest, the film presents Cobain in a late-00s context. The people and places Cobain discusses in the film are still around: depressed logging communities, idyllic Olympia, cosmopolitan Seattle. Kurt hated them all, and he probably still would.

Here's one thing I took from About a Son: Kurt Cobain was kind of a jerk. He talks about despising people just from the way they look and how when he's on tour he just wants to sit by himself in a corner rather than talk to people. He talks about how angry he's gotten with his bandmates over songwriting credits. How if he ever loses his family and his money, he's going to seek out bloody revenge on those who have wronged him. Not exactly the kind of guy I'd really want to hang out with.

I understand that he was in a lot of pain; that certainly comes through in the film. But About a Son did a lot of damage to my teenage idealization of Cobain as a saintly fighter of the good fight, cut down in his prime by evil mainstream corporate America (the very channels through which people like me first heard Nirvana, of course.)

For somebody like me who grew up idolizing and obsessing over Cobain, About a Son is eye-opening and heart-breaking. It humanizes him in ways that his music, performances, and videos never could. Sure, most sane, rational adults realize that every rock star is also a real person. But when you spend years fascinated with the mystique, it's sometimes difficult to come to terms with that realization.

So basically what I'm saying is if you want your childhood dreams shattered, go see About a Son. (Kidding.) But really, it's an essential movie for Nirvana fans. (For people who don't care about Nirvana, I'd recommend steering clear.)

On February 19, just one day before what would have been Kurt Cobain's 41^st birthday, Shout! Factory will release the film on DVD. It includes commentary by director Schnack and the features "The Voices Behind About a Son" and "On Location: Scouting Video to Scene Comparison".