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Movies / On DVD / Kurt Cobain About a Son
Kurt Cobain About a Son

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Kurt Cobain About a Son (2007)

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Reviews Counted:36

Fresh:26

Rotten:10

Average Rating:6.9/10

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.

Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Synopsis: An intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audiotaped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music... An intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audiotaped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad for his book "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana." In the film, Kurt Cobain recounts his own life - from his childhood and adolescence to his days of musical discovery and later dealings with explosive fame - and offers often piercing insights into his life, music, and times. The conversations heard in the film have never before been made public and they reveal a highly personal portrait of an artist much discussed but not particularly well understood. --© Balcony Releasing [More]

Director: AJ Schnack

Director: AJ Schnack
Producer: Shirley Moyers, Noah Khoshbin, Chris Green
Composer: Steve Fisk, Benjamin Gibbard
Studio: Balcony Releasing

Reviews for Kurt Cobain About a Son

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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As an illustrated audio tour through the life of a gifted but self-destructive performer, 'About a Son' is enlightening to a point, but one has to wonder when filmmakers will stop exhuming the corpse of a man who desperately craved privacy.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment 1 Comment
04/09/08
Rossiter Drake
Rossiter Drake
San Francisco Examiner

Shaped from Cobain's own words, the film tells his story with care, in inventive style and without phony reverence or pretentious pronouncements.

Full Review Source: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) | comment Comment
02/22/08
John Wirt
John Wirt
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

Most of the material has never been made public before, so the movie is a must-see for Cobain fans. Even for non-fans, it is quite an astonishing document. Up to a point.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
01/18/08
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

Only loosely connected to the story, the visuals quickly grow monotonous.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/11/08
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

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.

Full Review Source: The Deadbolt | comment Comment
01/11/08
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
The Deadbolt

A fascinating plunge into one man's thicket of contradictions.

Full Review Source: Metromix.com | comment Comment
01/10/08
Matt Pais
Matt Pais
Metromix.com

There is much to fault in this tedious exercise in pseudo-hipster cool masquerading as, well, what exactly?

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
01/04/08
George Varga
George Varga
San Diego Union-Tribune

Startlingly de-mythologizing at first, then just plain poignant . . . it's fascinating to reconcile Cobain's slacker howl over chipping guitar chords with a sodden Pacific Northwest of logging trucks and fishing boats.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
12/06/07
Brian Gibson
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

The ending section, where Schnack and Azerrad let Cobain ramble philosophically about life and music, is a muddled intellectual mess.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
11/30/07
Joel Selvin
Joel Selvin
San Francisco Chronicle

Many of the images aren't particularly compelling and neither, frankly, are Cobain's comments, which range from dull anti-press diatribes to familiar stories about the musical influence of his Aunt Mary to inarticulate blather.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
11/30/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

It's easy to get lost in his words, especially if you're a fan. I ended up enjoying the film overall, even if I had to wonder whether Cobain himself would have approved of a film like this.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
11/29/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Cobain narrates the tale of his all-too-short life, musing on his successes, loves, letdowns, motivations and depression.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
11/29/07
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Kurt Cobain About a Son is a lovely piece of filmmaking, a gripping, minimalist marriage of sound and image.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/02/07
Joan Anderman
Joan Anderman
Boston Globe

The unique style of the film makes it a music and art house fan's must and, if you are a fan of Kurt Cobain, yours too.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
10/28/07
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

...essential viewing for any real fan of the man and his music and an artfully unique take on the musical biographical documentary genre.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
10/27/07
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

As important for what it reveals about a seminal and grievously misunderstood artist as for how it rejuvenates a moribund documentary form.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/25/07
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

Less a movie than an illustrated audiotape, Kurt Cobain: About a Son is nonetheless fascinating for what it reveals of its subject,

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
10/19/07
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer

This isn't so much a movie documentary as it is an audio book with visuals.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
10/12/07
Patrick MacDonald
Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times

Personally, I would have preferred to just listen to a CD of Azerrad's engrossing interview in my car -- then pop in a Nirvana album for the rest of the drive home. Smells like a fine idea to me.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
10/05/07
Gary Goldstein
Gary Goldstein
Reel.com

About A Son may not let in anybody who doesn't already have one foot in Nirvana's doorway, but those people are invited in fully, to experience the contradictions and preoccupations of a man whose music defined his era.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
10/05/07
Noel Murray
Noel Murray
AV Club
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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