Kurt Cobain – About A Son (2006/Shout! Factory DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Main Program: C

 

 

A.J. Schnack’s Kurt Cobain – About A Son (2006) is a somewhat ambitious attempt to match the actual words of the gone-too-soon lead singer/songwriter of Nirvana with newly shot HD images.  In one sense, it makes some sense to try this out, but in the long run, the matching of new HD images of the places he lived to his words from years ago seem more anachronistic than effective.

 

The main problem is that the places do not stay the same, these are not the same people or even businesses that existed when Cobain was there.  In addition, there is no palpable mood or feel about the footage shown either in its editing or the way it is shot.  There is no real sense of being there and an HD format version of this would not change that.  The result is more like a hip travelogue than anything biographical.  It also assumes people cannot listen to words (let alone music) anymore without images.  What a shame.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image seems to have originated in HD of some kind, but the benefits are limited here, though this can be cleanly shot.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at best and the combination is technically adequate, but really goes nowhere.  Extras include select director commentary, a comparison of scouting video and the final result where the scouting footage is more interesting and a featurette about the voices behind this production.  I’ll settle for the audio only or Cobain’s actual music.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo