MovieChat Forums > Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) Discussion > Don't Watch Unless You're a Kurt Fan

Don't Watch Unless You're a Kurt Fan

posted 9 years ago by awaddelove-83641
2 replies | jump to latest

The subject of this post may sound silly - why else would you watch unless you were a Kurt Cobain fan? Well,I was at probably 10 when Kurt died and my older brother listened to Nirvana incessantly, so I feel like I know what Kurt brought to the table. That being said, I hated Nirvana. While I don't like the Kurt/Nirvana's sound, I respect his position in the history of music. That is why I watched Soaked in Bleach (as many others have mentioned on these boards and I could not stop talking about it for days and recommended it to everyone). I watched Montage of Heck with a very open mind and honestly excited based on reviews, however this just wasn't my cup of tea on many levels.

For me, Montage of Heck was terrible. I went into this looking for some background on the prolific Kurt Cobain. What I found was over two hours of agony. Honestly, 50% of this was videos you could probably find on youtue, 30% is video effects of his writing, and I guess I have to use the rest of the 20% as a look at his life. Though I still wasn't satisfied. I didn't learn enough about Kurt, the person.

Considering all the accolades this received as both a documentary and a potential look into what we all know to be a troubled mind, it was a failure. After about an hour, I knew when to fast forward through yet another music video, concert or weird sketch that was just dull.

I'm no movie critic, but I love documentaries and after 2+ hours, I don't feel like I learned anything about Kurt. Bleugh.

To get back to my original thought - I could see how if you are a big Kurt fan, you would love to see his writings, thoughts, everything... but for me - a self-confessed meh person who was trying to open her mind? This was terrible. Soaked in Bleach - conspiracies aside - was far, far better in telling the story of this music legend.

[–] marutluke 9 years ago

Thats a pretty fair critique. I'm a huge Nirvana fan and I knew a lot about him going in, but with that being said I think what Bret Morgen was trying to do was to show him, and the kind of person he was, through his art. I heard him say in an interview that the best way to learn about an artist is to look at his art, which would explain why the constant, at times what may seem to be nonsensical, use of his art throughout the film.

However, I'd have to disagree with you. I thought it did a fantastic job at offering an insight into the kind of person he was, but like I said, I'm a huge Nirvana fan, so that undoubtedly had an influence.

[–] WarpedRecord 8 years ago

I am just a casual Nirvana fan, but I found every moment of this fascinating. Perhaps this told us more about the filmmaker than the subject, but the heavily stylized approach here is several steps above the average rock doc.