Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck Premieres at Sundance

Nirvana’s music. I never idolized Kurt Cobain, but I knew a lot of people who did.

His life has been picked apart in books, movies and more over the years, but I can’t imagine any of them got as close to him as Director Brett Morgan’s “Montage of Heck”

We saw Kurt’s life through a just few people who knew him best – his parents and sister, Krist Novoselic, an early girlfriend — as well as his own writings, audio recordings, drawings, and home movies.

It’s incredibly intimate.

Which makes the inevitable end hurt that much more.

I was lucky enough to be at the premiere, with Kurt’s wife Courtney Love and his daughter Frances Bean in attendance.

In reference to Courtney, who opened up her personal archives to him without any oversight, the director made sure to note that “any person who thinks there was an agenda on this film can fuck off.”

He dedicated the movie to Frances and said he wanted to give her a couple hours with her dad that she never had.

Kurt was seemingly an artistic genius from birth and watching him grow from charismatic youngster to troubled teenager and then reluctant celebrity, a few themes became very clear to me.

But most of all this.

Not everyone who is creatively talented is made for – or craves – the spotlight. But as an artist, you want as many people as possible to experience your work. It’s a terribly tricky situation.

But it’s also terrible what we do to people as a culture.

Put them on pedestals, set unreasonably high expectations for ANY human being to meet and then pounce when they falter.

We share high highs and low lows of Kurt’s life through his eyes, with his drawings and writings animated to tell the story from HIS point of view.

I don’t want to go into detail because that’s where the magic of this movie is. These scenes you can’t believe you’re watching. So personal, you almost feel guilty seeing it.

The film was apparently eight years in the making and a “labor of love”, as Brett called it, for everyone involved.

The director also said “ I am more proud of this movie than anything I’ve ever done.”

RR