Kurt Cobain was one of the most influential people of the ‘90s. As the singer and guitarist of Nirvana, he served as the symbol of rebellion for millions of teens worldwide, with his suicide in 1994 further cementing his symbol status. In Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, director Brett Morgan firmly roots Cobain to the ground and ditches the mythos to show a raw, unbridled look on the musician’s life.
Thanks to Morgan’s unrestricted access to Courtney Love’s archives (it certainly doesn’t hurt to have his daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, on the ticket as an executive producer), Montage of Heck presents Cobain’s life like it’s never been shown before; his transformation from happy child to angsty teenager, the rise of Nirvana, his marriage to Love and the birth of his daughter bring him back to life on screen.
Interviews with Cobain’s mother, as well as Courtney Love, and long-time friend and band mate Krist Novoselic are present among others, but the film lets the footage do the talking. Long stretches of airtime are allotted to watch Cobain interact with others, whether it’s with screaming fans onstage, in the obviously uncomfortable interviews with journalists, or while he plays with Frances Bean and Love. The film uses animation over audio recordings of Cobain by himself to add another layer of depth and intimacy with the content. The most striking thing is when Montage of Heck gives us a look into Cobain’s notebooks, filled with his most personal thoughts and drawings that throw us right into his head.
What this film succeeds in doing is distancing Cobain from his legendary status. It isn’t about Kurt Cobain the damaged rock star; it’s about Kurt Cobain the artist, painter, husband, and father. Nirvana is only mentioned when it absolutely has to be, and only when it directly involves Cobain. Montage of Heck manages to erase everything we ever thought we knew about him and start from scratch.
Montage of Heck doesn’t want to analyze, romanticize or sensationalize. It simply asks us to see the man behind the hype. Throw in a soundtrack of live recordings, some great covers and a spot-on impersonation of Bob Dylan, and you get the definitive film that renders all other Cobain biographies obsolete.
