Film review: Kurt Cobain – Montage of Heck

Director: Brett Morgen
Rating: 16
Running Time: 2hr 12mins

Kurt Cobain is one of most reported-on musicians of all-time.  Countless articles, multiple television appearances, a few biographies but not one authorised documentary about the Nirvana frontman.  Until now, of course.

Director, Brett Morgen, chooses a rich blend of imagery and music to create an experience replicated in very few other music documentaries.  Despite being a little over two hours in length, the film does not shed light on any new information but it does successfully gives the audience an almost voyeuristic view into the life of Kurt Cobain. 

The film begins, as one would expect, with his early life.  It is an all too familiar tale (at first), well behaved child becomes troublesome after a traumatic event – in this case, the divorce of his parents.  The impact that it had on Cobain is highlighted through his drawings, each one with a sinister edge.  By the time Kurt is a teenager, he lacks any real family bond.  However, Brett Morgen, rather excellently introduces animation to compensate for the lack of home-video footage during this time.  It works magnificently. 

Near the halfway point of the film, the band release Nevermind.  Nirvana’s meteoric rise to fame is complete.  It consumes Cobain.  He grows tired and infuriated with the media and public alike.  His level of angst is documented intelligently.  The mood shifts both on screen and in the cinema. 

Cobain retreats to his safe-haven, his home.  At first, the rarely seen-before footage of Kurt and Courtney Love brings a smile to the audience.  The recordings show it all, from Kurt lovingly singing to his daughter, to the incoherent heroin induced ramblings. 

Remarkably, it does not cover his final days or the aftermath of his death.  Instead, it ends with a cold screen of text.  Harrowing in itself.

‘Montage of Heck’ stands out from other Nirvana/Cobain documentaries for a number of reasons but primarily  because Brett Morgen successfully captured the life of Kurt Cobain; the human, the drug-addict, the father.

Rating: 4/5