Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Seven reasons Courtney Love scares me, and should scare you, too:

1. She aspired to meet Michael Stipe as a stepping-stone for being famous (and she did, too.)
2. She has a tendency to wear smeary-red lipstick.
3. She has a grating, nasal-y, irritating voice.
4. She could beat me up one-handed (and probably would after reading this).
5. She wanted to be part of Sid and Nancy, when everyone knows Nancy was the annoying one.
6. She leaves scary messages on journalists' voicemail.
7. She had her husband, Kurt Cobain, murdered....

So Nick Broomfield, BBC filmmaker behind the documentary Kurt and Courtney, might have you believe. It's hard to not be fascinated at this film, which starts out as an earnest musical journey back to Kurt Cobain's roots, but which slowly turns into a murder-mystery of sorts as old friends and lovers indicate that Cobain actually was not suicidal and that Love (who we all know is power-hungry, manipulative, and generally unpleasant) might have some serious 'splainin' to do.

But let's back up a bit.

The film starts out somewhat slowly as Broomfield travels to Washington to see where Cobain was raised. Try not to stifle a yawn at this point. We see him talking to Cobain's aunt, his sort of musical-mentor, who has in her possession precious early recordings done by a teenaged Kurt Cobain. Unfortunately, we are not able to hear those recordings because they are controlled by Kurt's widow, Courtney Love, who refuses to release them.

So we follow Broomfield as he tracks down acquaintances from Cobain's late teens and early 20s. Sometimes the transitions between these meetings drag, as Broomfield insists on giving us long forward-facing shots of the road, giving us a feel that we are "traveling" with him. Oh, look, another lower middle class neighborhood street! How interesting! Ho hum.

In a glad-I'm-not-really-there-despite-what-Broomfield-wants-me-to-imagine sort of way, we meet all sorts of unsavory types of characters from Kurt's past, including old friends, teachers, and people who claim to have known him but you just sort of get the feeling that maybe they never did. But that's just me.

Eventually the story necessarily starts shifting from Kurt's music (which we can't hear anyway), to his life with Courtney (the reason we can't hear his music). We find out that she's mean (gee, that's a surprise), narcissistic (why?), and, according to some, a murderer. That's when things start to get really interesting.

The incredulous Broomfield talks to people who claim that Kurt was miserable with Courtney and in the process of divorcing her at the time of his death. Those claiming to be in the know say she had him murdered before he had a chance to change his will and leave her high and dry. Her father believes this, the private detective Courtney hired to find Kurt (in an apparent smokescreen maneuver) believes this, and so do the couple's former nanny and various alleged friends and acquaintances.

As the film gets more and more surreal, we trek to somewhere in suburban California with Broomfield to meet a really scary guy named El Duce whom Love allegedly hired to hit Cobain. Then we find out a few weeks later that El Duce is dead (an accident?)

We hear from various journalists who were threatened and physically attacked by Courtney Love on several occasions...

...then the film inexplicably shifts from the conspiracy theories to that little notion called Freedom of the Press. Love is a special guest at an ACLU dinner, where Broomfield somehow manages to talk to her and confront her with her behavior towards journalists. Love is evasive and flippant (and irritating, as usual), and then the film ends.

Hmmmm.

No loose ends are ever tied up, no questions really answered. We learn towards the end of the film that Broomfield has lost his funding (allegedly at the hands of Love) and so the film just.... ends.

A few observations:

--The film has a certain unfinished and raw quality about it. (Aside from the fact that it's not really finished, of course.) We see Broomfield walking into empty rooms by accident, surprising people getting out of their cars, running into dead ends, and talking to people who probably never knew Kurt or Courtney...

--Which leads me to the point that some of the people interviewed are a bit dodgy at best. We feel Broomfield's frustration with these people who are near-impossible to interview, and almost painful to listen to. Half of them are strung out on God-knows-what, and none of them could really say anything specific about anything. It's interesting to note that the women interviewed all wore that same smeary-red bad lipstick that Courtney was so fond of in her heyday. Which makes me think maybe they're Courtney-worshippers and wannabes rather than legitimate old friends of the couple. Either that or maybe people in Seattle are in desperate need of some good Avon representation. Or both. Also, some of them are outlandish in the same way that Jerry Springer guests are, which makes you wonder whether they're "real people" or not. My friend and I were convinced at some point that they just had to be actors.

--Ummm, where are Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic?

--Though the movie never really focuses on the music (it can't), it does offer some compelling glimpses into both Kurt and Courtney's early lives, which are both equally sad and fascinating. Sure, they may be totally bizarre, but they grew up under totally bizarre circumstances, so it's understandable in a way.

--It's interesting that Broomfield actually had the nerve to bring all of these conspiracy theories about Kurt's death out in the open... in a somewhat legitimate way. He plays himself here as an innocent guy who suddenly stumbled into something bigger than he intended. He seems just as befuddled as you do in all of this. (Note the words "played and "seemed." It's hard to tell if Broomfield is a complete innocent here or not.) The film does point out some interesting unanswered questions about Cobain's death. Though you get the idea that Broomfield doesn't really believe in the conspiracy theories, you're left with enough questions to wonder what really did happen....

Which I guess is why it's so appropriate that this movie isn't really finished.

Because we'll never know.





Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age