Hot Docs 2015 Review: ‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck’

Posted in Festival Coverage, Hot Docs 2015, Movies by - April 23, 2015

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

Special Presentations

Tackling the life of a rock and roll icon is always such a tricky thing.  Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck starts off strong enough giving us some unique insights into the man behind some of the more influential music of the 1990’s but it overstays its welcome and ultimately turns into a video and musical collage for the hard core fans.

The first fully authorized cinematic telling of the life of Kurt Cobain.  Through the use of archival footage, never before seen home movies, animation and words pulled from his own works we get a unique portrait of the man.  A singular kind of artist who fought with his demons just as much as his genius, and aside from the music himself this is probably the closest anyone will get to the man that was Kurt Cobain.

While it started strong, the more we get into Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck the more it turns into a group love in for the fan base.  With his daughter Frances Bean Cobain serving as an executive producer and her mother Courtney Love one of the subjects for interview their influence is very strongly felt, especially when you realize that Dave Grohl is really nowhere to be found.  While most of it is a strong bio pic with reactions from interview subjects and archival footage, the last third of the movie turns into random home movies and art from his personal archives it gets more than a little tedious as nothing happens and it devolves into a bit of a mess.

Make no mistake, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is for the hardcore fans only and they will eat it up.  Casual fans or music appreciators don’t have to rush.

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is screening twice at Hot Docs.

Friday Apr. 24th at 9:45PM at the TIFF Bell Lightbox

Sat. Apr. 25th at 1:15 PM at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

Both screenings have gone rush, but have no fear it opens for a regular run on May 15th at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema after the fest.

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David Voigt is a Toronto based writer with a problem and a passion for the moving image and all things cinema. Having moved from production to the critical side of the aisle for well over 15 years now at outlets like Examiner.com, Criticize This, Dork Shelf (Now That Shelf), and to.Night Newspaper. He’s been all across the continent; serving on the FIPRESCI Jury at the Festival Du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, covering festivals out side of Toronto like Calgary Underground Film Festival, CUFF Docs, Slamdance, Fantasia, SXSW, DOC NYC, Santa Barbara Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival and many others However, In the uncertain world of modern film journalism, David also knew that he needed to have a hand in writing and cementing his own contributions on the global film scene. Having eclipsed the 10 year anniversary of his own outlet, In The Seats, where he’s been striving to support film (and TV) from all walks of life and his podcast “In The Seats With…” where after 5 & ½ years and over 750 episodes he’s talked with a wide variety of filmmakers, actors, behind the scenes artisans and so much more on the art of storytelling for the screen, which is spawning the launch of a new show in the Spring of 2026. “ITS: Soundtracks” will focus on the use of soundtrack and score in film which he believes is a combination that is the cinematic equivalent of Peanut Butter and Chocolate. All this as well as hosting and moderating a variety of big screen events around the city, covering film in all its forms is just a way of life for him.
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