Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Kurt Cobain About a Son

Play trailer Poster for Kurt Cobain About a Son 2007 1h 37m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
74% Tomatometer 42 Reviews 78% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Documentary filmmaker A.J. Schnack created this impressionistic tribute to Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994 at the age of 27, during the height of his fame. His source material comes from hours of recorded interviews with Cobain that music journalist Michael Azerrad conducted for his 1993 book "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana," which Schnack combines with wordless visuals exploring the three cities Cobain called home: Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle, Washington.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Kurt Cobain About a Son

Kurt Cobain About a Son

What to Know

Critics Consensus

With a constant voiceover of his own words, About A Son is a deeply personal look into Cobain's life that is sure to please his many fans.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Sal Cinquemani Slant Magazine 03/01/2008
3/4
AJ Schnack's Kurt Cobain: About a Son is as gripping and revealing as Gus Van Sant's Last Days was hollow and pointless. Go to Full Review
J. R. Jones Chicago Reader 01/11/2008
Only loosely connected to the story, the visuals quickly grow monotonous. Go to Full Review
Brian Tallerico The Deadbolt 01/11/2008
Allows the fans that the legendary musician will keep gathering for decades to come a brief look inside Cobain's troubled mind, and it does so in a refreshingly bold and innovative way. Go to Full Review
Kelly Vance East Bay Express 04/28/2011
The images combine with Cobain's voiceover for a cumulative effect that seeps into the film rather than exploding onto it. Go to Full Review
Dave White Movies.com 04/04/2011
3/5
Jennifer Merin About.com 06/06/2010
3/5
Filmmaker AJ Schnack uses 25-hours of previously unheard audio interviews with Cobain as voice over for footage of Cobain haunts. The images are mesmerizing, but Cobain never appears on screen, and he is missed. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
i already d 03/19/2022 I have to say that a huge number of reviewers have me wondering if we watched the same film... Such vapid, attentionless thoughts; most complain the cinemaphotography and stills and score/songs for this documentary had nothing to do with interview audio with Kurt. Nothing is further from the truth. I've seen very few documentaries as creatively realized as this one is, and certainly none that cover musical artists. Perhaps it helps me, as a viewers, to be from WA state and to have lived in (or visited often) many of the locales that were filmed here. This is not a "Microsoft screensaver" as someone mentioned; this is the brilliant work of the filmmakers presenting visuals that attempt to represent all the places and things, people and faces, bands and songs and problems and issues that Kurt would have seen and experienced throughout the life he describes in the interview. Once in a while they're hurt a bit only because they're more contemporary (early-to-mid 2000s) than what Kurt would have experienced (80s-to-90s). Even down to never really hearing a Nirvana/Cobain song throughout was an exceptional choice; rather than the band's cover song that was hugely popular, for instance, we instead hear the original song "Man Who Sold the World" by Bowie, like Kurt would have. Any song or style or image seen is something spoken about in real-time in the interview... it's wonderful and immersive. I really get the feeling a lot folks simply didn't understand what they were seeing. If so, I wish they'd see it again and let go of wanting to see "rare footage", or "lost photographs" of the band and Kurt whilst coming up. Every documentary about a music personality does things that way; this documentary did something entirely different and I for one adored it. I was never a super-fan of Kurt or Nirvana by any means, but this was a mesmerizing, deeply personal and superbly realized hour and thirty minutes about this man. See more 10/22/2018 Hearing the man himself and his personal account was so cool. The visuals, however, might as well have been an microsoft screen saver. The filmmakers here had absolutely no imagination. It would have been better to watch a black screen with captioning. See more 07/30/2017 Even though it's just a bunch of videos and images shown with the recordings of Kurt's interviews, it gives a perspective about his early life, heard from his own lips with pictures of places trying to make you visualize what was it like to live through what he was talking about. See more 05/17/2015 This is not a movie, this is an audio interview with some annoying visuals and completely unrelated songs. See more 02/02/2015 A poetic and profound document to Kurt Cobain, based on audio interviews and newly captured video. Well-constructed and allows an insight into the environment Kurt grew up within. I reckon you should see it! See more david f 03/31/2014 This film consists of interview tapes of Kurt Cobain talking about himself over imagery from the Pacific Northwest where he lived all his life. If you're interested in the subject you'll probably enjoy this film but if not there really isn't a compelling reason to watch it. See more Read all reviews
Kurt Cobain About a Son

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson 85% 83% Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Watchlist An Unreasonable Man 92% 87% An Unreasonable Man Watchlist This Filthy World 92% 85% This Filthy World Watchlist Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out 29% 65% Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out Watchlist Sketches of Frank Gehry 82% 72% Sketches of Frank Gehry Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Documentary filmmaker A.J. Schnack created this impressionistic tribute to Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994 at the age of 27, during the height of his fame. His source material comes from hours of recorded interviews with Cobain that music journalist Michael Azerrad conducted for his 1993 book "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana," which Schnack combines with wordless visuals exploring the three cities Cobain called home: Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle, Washington.
Director
AJ Schnack
Producer
Shirley Moyers, Noah Khoshbin, Chris Green
Distributor
Balcony
Production Co
Sidetrack Films, Bonfire Films of America
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 3, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 19, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$80.7K
Runtime
1h 37m
Most Popular at Home Now