Squaring a Circle: Kurt Cobain - About a Son

by Ryland Walker Knight

Read the full review in The Daily Cal. That is, as much as they allowed into the paper; my first few grafs are rather butchered, I must protest. Disregarding my dissatisfactions with the published piece, I should push forth the notion that it's almost an interesting movie. Definitely heart-felt and good looking. But it doesn't quite work that well, or as well as it could have, I imagine. Director AJ Schnack (Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)) attempts to answer my question of how do we speak of Nirvana now by replacing images of Cobain with images of the places (and the people of those places) where Cobain lived, and grew. It's an interesting conceit. But it never quite congeals. Still, it looks great, as you can see from above. My best snark? It definitely inherits something from Koyaanisqatsi (which Schnack apparently modeled his film after): it's kinda boring, despite its beatific images and that great Queen song. (PS: I like Manohla Dargis' somewhat slight review.)

"It's not my story as much as it is anybody else's story."