Kurt Cobain About a Son
Balcony Releasing | Release Date: October 3, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film ThreatMark Bell
Everyone involved with the film brings their top talents to the fore, and the result is a touching, heartbreaking and an ultimately honest personal experience. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Filmmaker AJ Schnack's hauntingly beautiful film is a bold and successful attempt to recover the human being who disappeared under the heavy mantle of "face and voice of a lost generation," and whose life has been increasingly overshadowed by his sensational early death in 1994. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Even without the oral history, this trippy exploration of Cobain's earthy habitations would be worth seeing as a "Koyaanisqatsi" for the Puget Sound area. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
No single film or book can dispel the cloud of enigma surrounding Kurt Cobain, but simply sitting in the dark and hearing him talk to you for 90 minutes, while the dreary gray-green beauty of his home state moves through your eyeballs and into your brain, goes a pretty long way. Read full review
80
Village VoiceCamille Dodero
About a Son is essentially a dead rock star talking about his life for an hour and a half, and—here, jacket-blurbers!—it's deeply moving. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The result is a film exponentially more vivid and absorbing than the garden-variety rock-doc or biopic. "About a Son" is a must for anyone who still loves Cobain, or still has hope for cinematic portraiture. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
About A Son may not let in anybody who doesn't already have one foot in Nirvana's doorway, but those people are invited in fully, to experience the contradictions and preoccupations of a man whose music defined his era. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Be advised that this is no ordinary music doc. There are no talking heads and no performance footage of Nirvana. In fact, there's no Nirvana music at all. Instead, Schnack gives us other artists' music that had an effect on the troubled rocker. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's a study in human behavior, describing how a self-confessed "emotional wreck," through accident and ambition, talent and temperament, became a star. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJoan Anderman
A lovely piece of filmmaking, a gripping, minimalist marriage of sound and image. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
Some fans will find the approach (which avoids Nirvana music and perf footage) too arty and indirect; but others will welcome the specialized theatrical release and the subsequent DVD. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
A true gift to fans of this important musician. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
There's nothing particularly revelatory about the interviews recorded over a two-month span, but there's an intimate quality that gives the impression you're listening to a private conversation, which, in a sense, you are. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Near the end, we hear Cobain reveal his disdain for adults who “can’t even pretend, or at least have enough courtesy for their children, to talk to one another civilly.” A painful and unexpected moment. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Only loosely connected to the story, the visuals quickly grow monotonous, and as the chronicle arrives at Cobain's late years of curdled fame and fortune, his bitterness and cynicism make even the narration hard to take. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
It’s hard to know who the audience might be for the documentary oddity Kurt Cobain About a Son, but I bet its subject, the guy who’s still being called on to entertain us even after his death, would have hated it. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleJoel Selvin
Never penetrates Cobain's circumstances or character. Read full review
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