A lot has happened since I last posted here. Spring arrived, Prince William tied the knot (early risers may have had the privilege of watching the whole thing on TLC, brought to you by Fancy Feast in the most inspired example of TV sponsorship in my lifetime), and Osama bin Laden was killed and promptly dumped into the ocean. Unfortunately, nothing I'm about to tell you is nearly as exciting as all that, but I do have a great new (old) film to recommend to you, and that HAS to count for something.
So in keeping with my typically active social life in the big city, I spent a good chunk of this weekend catching up on must-see documentaries for both work and pleasure. I finally got around to watching Exit Through the Gift Shop (which was fabulous, though I'm sure the rest of you already knew that since you saw the film upon its release last year) and an upcoming doc on the Earth Liberation Front we're promoting this summer (a hint: its title rhymes with If a Bee Calls...).
But the surprise winner of this weekend's docu-binge was About a Son, a five-year old documentary on morbidly glamorized rock icon Kurt Cobain. Like many suburban American teens, I went through a substantial alt-rock phase in my middle and high school years, complete with Hot Topic t-shirts, ripped jeans, and over-sized flannels. It was my way of asserting my independence and individualism from the teeny-bopper masses, and there was no better accessory in my rebellion than Nirvana. They were the most widely known band of the 90s grunge movement, having proliferated even the Nickelodeon programming I had consumed as a child, and were still, years after Cobain's death, all over Philadelphia modern rock radio. I read every biography on Cobain I could find, braved every inaudible unreleased recording, and even forced myself to sit through the inane, factually-warped hilarity that is Nick Broomfield's Kurt & Courtney.
Of course, I went on to college and even more obscure indie idols, and I abandoned Nirvana as an "obvious," "mainstream" cultural phenomenon at about the same time this documentary was released. However, unfortunately for me (and a lot of other slightly pretentious people of my generation), Nirvana is a prime example of the music industry at its finest: a band that becomes hugely popular because they are legitimately innovative and talented above and beyond their peers. Years later, I'm finally able to go back to Nevermind and In Utero and appreciate them for the classic albums they are. So when I saw this title pop up in my Netflix Instant Recommendations, I figured it was worth going back to as well.
AJ Schnack's About a Son is a unique film, especially in the context of other documentaries about Cobain and the band. The film was crafted around over 25 hours of audiotape interviews with Cobain conducted by journalist Michael Azerrad in preparation for his 1993 book, Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Cobain discusses his childhood in Aberdeen, family life, and musical influences, as well as the band's rise to stardom, his relationship with Courtney Love, and his drug use.
The most striking thing about the film is the surprising lack of video footage of Cobain himself. While photos of the band's live performances and personal photos of Cobain, Love, and daughter Frances Bean are provided when appropriate, Schnack avoids these typical crutches of the rock biopic for most of the film, and instead opts to go into the field and film the locations and scenes Cobain discusses in his interviews. Every frame of the film provides ambiance to flush out the real star of the show: Cobain's voice. No other interviews are conducted, very little performance footage is included. About a Son is, fundamentally, an audiotrack accompanied by B-roll footage.
And yet, it's highly effective. By forcing the viewer to pay exclusive attention to Cobain's voice rather than all the hype surrounding his band, his experiences and opinions sound more and more ordinary. While many filmmakers aspire to strip away the "Rock Star" persona of their subjects and get to the human being within, Schnack's film is the one of the few rock documentaries I've seen that succeeds in this mission. About a Boy doesn't dwell on Nirvana's fame or Cobain's suicide. It's just an hour and a half of Cobain talking, as if the viewers had traveled back in time and were conversing with him themselves.
About a Son is free to watch instantly online with any Netflix account. If you don't have Netflix, you can see the film on YouTube in its entirety, although I make no promises as to the quality of the video. Meanwhile, feel free to check out the trailer below.
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