Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)

I can hum along with most of the Nirvana hits, but I can’t really claim to be a fan. When Cobain died, it was just in my periphery - I remember hearing Courtney read aloud his suicide note which she peppered with expletives...but there was no pain for me. I didn’t know him. After watching this, I now feel like I do. And I think anyone who watches this brilliantly put-together documentary will feel the same.

There’s no narrator and very little of it is “talking heads.” Instead, at least 80% is letting Kurt speak for himself through home videos, tape recorded bits, live performances, interviews, and his journals - beautifully animated and containing his whole life, it seems: lyrics, poetry, schedules, doodles, complex art, phone numbers -- it feels like a peek inside his mind. I’d almost feel guilty if it wasn’t that one of the entries begs that his diary be read...his things gone through...and to be figured out. It’s stunning and intimate and well worth the watch.

A-