Kurt Cobain took his own life in 1994 when the author was in 9th grade. They felt sad upon hearing the announcement but only briefly as they were just starting to experience feelings of alienation as a teenager. The documentary film About A Son focuses on Cobain's human side, with footage from his childhood hometown and places he frequented. It has a haunting, romantic atmosphere from its soundtrack of songs relevant to Cobain's life. The film avoids using any Nirvana songs and instead presents Cobain as an honest, fragile person rather than exploiting him as a fallen idol.

1. Do you remember where you were when Kurt died? I do. It was just before class, around
8:50 am, I was in grade 9. An announcement came on over the PA system. Something
about Kurt Cobain taking his own life. I reflected on this at my locker. It was a pity; I
really did feel sad, but only for a minute. This may sound cold, but I’m sure the Zen
monk within him would have approved.
I was only 14 in ’94. A bit of a late bloomer, for the pain of alienation was just starting to
creep in to my life. It wouldn’t be until a few years later that I hit those days of hate and
societal loathing that touchstones for so many of us in those high school years. Had Kurt
passed in the midst of it all, well I might have punched the wall till my fists bled,
smashed a guitar and then maybe cried a bit. Something like Kurt might have done, but
unlike most teens, he never really got over his rage. In the interviews, he divulges on his
anger management problems that he dealt with for most of his life, stemming from
chronic stomach pain and scoliosis and blooming in to fits of manic-depressive rage. At
other points, he candidly admits to finding solace in opiates, confessing that they help
him accept society for its flaws. Countless intimate memories, like his aspiring
childhood rock star fantasies or his dreams of being an alien abductee, are shared through
the candid ears of the tape recorder
The visual aspect of the film harkens to an artsy national geographic piece. Composed of
b-roll portraits of Americana, starting with Aberdeen, the sleepy logger town he grew up
in; his dad’s old logging factory, deserted forest cabins, the tacky tiki themed cottage
resort where he used to work at as a chimney cleaner. Street shots of Olympia, the artsy
boho town where he found his first love, (not Courtney, but a girl named Tracey), and of
Seattle (the big city that him and Krist loved to hate back in their teens). The effect is
surreal. Many times I was tricked in to believing that I was watching the events as if they
were happening in the past.

2. The movie has a haunting, romantic air to it, thanks to a wistful soundtrack of
instrumental tunes and songs relevant to Kurt’s life (REM New Orleans Instrumental
Number One, Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World). Most refreshing was the complete
lack of Nirvana songs. Some fans might be disappointed, but I don’t think it could have
been done better. So many films exploit our fallen idols, forgetting to acknowledge them
for the honest people that they really are. About A Son embraces Kurt’s humanity and
frailty, as director AJ Shnack divulged prior to show time, “Kurt was a guy that you
really wanted to like, because he was just like you and me,”-- alien abduction fantasies
aside.