Here, Broomfield takes his direct and confrontational filmmaking style to one of the biggest stories of the 1990s: the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. While originally setting out to make a relatively straightforward documentary on Kurt and his legacy, the film soon unravels into a series of tales, hoaxes and conspiracy theories. This, combined with Courtney Love’s flat out refusal to be involved in the film, means that many a corner turned is met with a dead end. Ironically, it’s Love’s refusal of licensing Nirvana’s music and her threatening behaviour towards the project that actually becomes the most damaging aspect for her. Had she given the go ahead to the project, the film would have no doubt remained focused on Kurt, but instead, in Broomfield’s attempt to fill the gaps, we are left with a film that suggests on more than one occasion that Courtney herself was responsible for Kurt’s death. In true Love style, this turns a film that may have simply been entitled ‘Kurt’ into a film that simply had to be called ‘Kurt and Courtney’.
Kurt’s aunty is perhaps the star of the show, a sweet, humble lady who extracts the positives from Kurt’s life and attempts to pass them off in classrooms. She also proved the impetus and provided the equipment for Kurt’s first ever recordings. She and Kurt’s ex-girlfriend are perhaps the only people in the film who seem unaffected by the celebrity element of the story - sources that could actually be deemed reliable.
As a project for Broomfield it must have been frustrating, his support and funding was dropped due to cease and desist orders from Love. He also had to sacrifice large parts of his film in order to acquire interviews, the most apparent with that of Dylan Carlson (Kurt’s best friend) who it seems would only appear on film in exchange for his band’s music being used in it. So, at times we are shown superfluously long clips of Dylan’s new band that are integrated with very little subtlety. Sadly, this attempt also doesn’t really pay-off as Dylan is largely apathetic and hesitant in his actual interview. Broomfield is also taken in by a girl claiming to have known Kurt and Courtney, promising to provide pictures of them shooting-up together, but alas they never emerge. He even goes as far as to hire celebrity spies with hidden cameras in order to try and get close to Love and ask the questions Broomfield can’t fire off. When the face-to-face opportunity arises, the clearly amateurish men fail miserably. Taking matters into his own hands, Broomfield storms the stage at an event that acts as an advocacy for free speech, and publicly challenges Love’s hypocrisies on the matter (she is a guest speaker there). It’s a bold and brave moment in documentary filmmaking, but he is escorted off stage before anything resembling a reply can be heard.
Broomfield’s frustrations ultimately play out in the end outcome of the film, at times feeling like he has chosen to target Love as retaliation for her resilience to his film. It’s both an interesting and patchy documentary. In being denied direct access to the focal point, it manages to provide an interesting delve into the periphery of the subject, which it seems is a sycophantic, untrustworthy, and at times merciless environment. The ultimate irony perhaps, therefore, that in being misguided about the truth, he found the real reason why Kurt Cobain died. After all, who would want to live constantly surrounded by that?