Brett Morgan’s Film Shines a Light on Kurt Cobain
A three piece band from Aberdeen, Washington came onto the radar of millions in 1991, with the release of their song “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. That band, Nirvana, was fronted by Kurt Cobain, whose distorted electric guitars and unique, graveled, voice brought change in the music industry, knocking long-time hit-makers such a Michael Jackson from off of the charts. Furthermore, their style, the “Grunge” sound that they introduced, would be mimicked and played for many years to follow. Along with bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl (of Foo-Fighters), the band would release three studio albums, 1989’s Bleach, 1991’s Nevermind, and 1993’s In Utero. Tragically though, the band would be short lived; Cobain was found dead on April 8th, 1994. The cause of death was from an apparent suicide at his Seattle home.
21 years later, not only does the band’s influence and sound still remain at the top, but Cobain’s iconic status still lives on. Most recently, Brett Morgan has created a film that integrates animation, interviews with friends and family, journal entries, family photos, films, and also, an unreleased Cobain acoustic song. Eight years in the making “Montage of Heck” is already gaining momentum as an intimate portrait of a man, whom for the most part, attempted stay below the “Rock-God” pedestal that many had placed him on.
“I just wanted to give Frances (Cobain’s only child to Hole singer Courtney Love) a few more hours with her dad,” Morgan said during the film’s introduction. Brett Morgan was given access to all of the troubled front man’s belongings, so that he could help create a film that showed Kurt Cobain for who he was, not only as a musician and artist, but as a human being. Asked as to why he did not delve into the death of Cobain, Morgan stated that he “didn’t want to make a celebration of death…I wanted to make a celebration of life.” The film goes from Kurt as a small child, through his teenage years, up until his performance of MTV Unplugged. While the film has had nothing short of good reviews, the film will be available to HBO subscribers on May 4th.
