AllMovie

Filmmaker A.J. Schnack draws from over 25 hours of audio-taped interviews to offer an intimate meditation on the life of the man who changed the face of rock & roll in the 1990s in this film that uses materials originally gathered for music journalist Michael Azerrad's book Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. From his early childhood to his discovery of music and his troubled attempts to make sense of his skyrocketing fame as a member of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain recounts his life in a series of previously unreleased recordings. By combining the interviews with footage of Aberdeen, Olympia, and Seattle -- three Washington cities that played a major role in Cobain's tragically short life -- director Schnack assembles a dreamlike journey into the mind of an oft-discussed but widely misunderstood legend. An ethereal score by Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Nirvana producer Steve Fisk, as well as songs by some of Cobain's favorite recording artists including David Bowie and the Melvins, merge with evocative imagery to strip away the legend and portray the subject as a real man whose talents stood in stark contrast to his ability to deal with the hardships of fame.