Kurt Cobain from the movie Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.
Kurt Cobain from the movie Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.
A new documentary about Kurt Cobain may change the way you think about the troubled Nirvana frontman. Director Brett Morgen tells Chris Schulz about his labour of love.
Make a mind picture of Kurt Cobain and it's likely you'll see a reluctant rock star scowling at the camera.
But a new documentary about the late Nirvana frontman promises to show Cobain in a different light.
"I don't think we really got to see Kurt smile that much in public," says Brett Morgen, the director of Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, which hits New Zealand cinemas today. "I think this film has more smiles than we ever saw."
Taken from Courtney Love's personal stash of home videos and soundtracked by Cobain's audio diaries, Montage of Heck is a raw, intimate, occasionally harrowing ride that traces Kurt's upbringing, stopping just short of his 1994 death from a self-inflicted gunshot.
It's one that comes approved by Love, co-executive produced by Kurt and Courtney's daughter Frances Bean, and features interviews with Cobain's family and ex-Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic. A last-minute interview with Dave Grohl didn't make it into the film.
It was a labour of love for Morgen, who was first approached by Love eight years ago but came to a standstill as legal battles over rights tied him up.
"I made a couple of films in that time, I had a couple of kids," says Morgen, whose most notable work before this was 2002's The Kid Stays in the Picture.
Despite the weighty subject matter, and the hours Morgen spent alone cutting down the footage, the tragedy underpinning Cobain's life didn't get to him. In fact, Morgen says spending that much time with an "unfiltered" Cobain inspired him.
"People ask me if I took my work home with me, because there was a lot of angst in Kurt's life. The answer's no. I took my work home in terms of thinking about the movie. I was more inspired by Kurt's art and his creations. I probably got more emotional with the material once the film started to take shape ... it's pretty close to the film I had in my head."
Morgen's work has paid off, with plenty of cinematic gold for Nirvana trainspotters. But Montage of Heck is not easy to watch. There are incredibly personal moments, like the footage of Cobain as a toddler, playing guitar with long blonde hair and a cardigan - a look he became famous for more than 20 years later. Or when Love storms off after an argument in which Cobain mocks her during a soundcheck.
The most confronting scene shows a drowsy Cobain playing with his daughter on his knee while Love scolds him. "I'm not on drugs, I'm tired," says a scrawny Cobain. Many believe he's lying, and Cobain's life is littered with stories of drug use. But Morgen believes the film changes the perception of Cobain as a moody, reluctant rock star.
"People's perceptions of Kurt come from three years of output. In this movie you get a lifetime. I had no idea Kurt was so romantic as he turned out to be, he seemed to be in love with Love ...
"The quick-wit banter that he exhibits with Courtney is something rarely on display [elsewhere].
"Kurt seems really at comfortable, really at ease, when he's by himself. He would crack himself up. In a way he was most comfortable in that context."
Director Brett Morgen.
Montage of Heck first screened at the Sundance Film Festival and aired this week on HBO in America. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with the New York Post's Sara Stewart saying: "As the credits roll, it's hard not to just root for the sensitive, progressive, fiercely creative Cobain and wish that he'd lived long enough to find a little peace of mind."
It was originally pitched as a made-for-TV film, but support grew as word spread.
Morgen says he didn't anticipate the level of interest there would be in a documentary about Cobain more than 20 years after his death.
"I figured that yeah, it's Kurt Cobain, and yeah, it would probably play and make its way around the world. I didn't predict the outpouring. I didn't realise he had touched so many people. No one involved in this movie had any idea."
He puts it down to Cobain's ability to transcend generations with his music and his message.
"Kurt has become a flagpole for the uglies and the disenfranchised and the misfits. At a certain point in a lot of kids' lives they find Kurt and he gives them some comfort, I think. So that's why you have all these fans from age 13 to 40 that weren't around at the time but feel that they have grown up with Kurt.
"He's touched so many lives and he's as relevant now as he was then because the message is the same."
Morgen, who sounds deliriously tired as he talks to TimeOut after the film's Amsterdam premiere, says the film's success isn't something he wants to celebrate.
"To see the response the film has received all over the world, it's not a cause to celebrate. It's not like we're high-fiving each other and drinking champagne. There's a pall of sadness that hangs over it."
What: Director Brett Morgen and his documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck Where and when: In cinemas from today
