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Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
Director: Brett Morgen
145 minutes
4/5
It’s been more than 20 years since 90s rock icon Kurt Cobain shot himself. His name, however, is more alive than ever among his millions of fans, as Montage of Heck – the long-awaited documentary of his life – points out in an MTV/VH1 where-are-they-now-style edit.
Named after one of the dozens of demo tapes he used to compile, the film is a really intimate, well-thought-out biopic that looks at his life by way of interviews with family, childhood sweethearts, producers and band members that are lyrically packaged between grunge montages of 90s moments from the movies.
There are animated featurettes that retell stories from Cobain’s journals, and archival footage that will make even the most hardened R.E.M. fan remember the days of old with a tear and a craving for cigarettes.
But what the film does, more than capture his essence, is reveal a story about his life that shows that the man’s legend isn’t only for fans. When you get to see a musical hero grow from a stuttering boy into a broken, angst-ridden teenager, and then into the poetic shaman that shot Nirvana to superstardom, you will be reminded that music can immortalise the soul of a singer.
. Montage of Heck screens at the Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival. Visit encounters.co.za for more information
