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      Kurt Cobain About a Son

      Released Oct 3, 2007 1h 37m Documentary List
      74% 42 Reviews Tomatometer 78% 2,500+ Ratings Audience Score 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. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Jul 19 Buy Now

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      Kurt Cobain About a Son

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      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.

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      Audience Reviews

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      StephenPaul C The greatest 01 hour: and 37 minutes of real footage featuring Kurt Cobain before his passing away!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/26/23 Full Review i already d 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member This is not a movie, this is an audio interview with some annoying visuals and completely unrelated songs. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member 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! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (42) Critics Reviews
      Ben Kenigsberg Time Out Rated: 2/5 Nov 18, 2011 Full Review Stephen Garrett Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Sal Cinquemani Slant Magazine AJ Schnack's Kurt Cobain: About a Son is as gripping and revealing as Gus Van Sant's Last Days was hollow and pointless. Rated: 3/4 Mar 1, 2008 Full Review Kelly Vance East Bay Express The images combine with Cobain's voiceover for a cumulative effect that seeps into the film rather than exploding onto it. Apr 28, 2011 Full Review Dave White Movies.com Rated: 3/5 Apr 4, 2011 Full Review Jennifer Merin About.com 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. Rated: 3/5 Jun 6, 2010 Full Review Read all reviews

      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
      Ravi Anne
      Distributor
      Balcony
      Production Co
      Bonfire Films of America, Sidetrack Films
      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
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