I highly recommend Nick Broomfield's documentary film on the subject of his death, titled "Kurt and Courtney". I won't go into details of the film, except to say that I think it is a brilliant film in so many ways. I have to say that I agree with Broomfield's conclusion of the events: there was definitely something fishy in the circumstances surrounding his death, but everybody who has anything of substance to say on the matter is completely and totally unreliable (sometimes hilariously unreliable, and other times depressingly so). Throughout it all, the presence of the unflappable Broomfield really gives the film a deadpan comic edge amid some ultimately depressing subject matter.
Also, Gus van Sant's 2005 film, Last Days, while certainly not any kind of biopic, is nevertheless great, and makes you think of Kurt Cobain.
My good friend, Steve Taylor, has been producing some short documentary videos for the Ecstatic Music Festival that is currently in full swing at Merkin Hall in New York.
Alright, so its been an embarrassingly long time since anything has been posted. I apologize profusely to my readership (ha!). A witty excuse would be apropos here... but alas, I have none.
Instead, we will discuss the film, 'Sans Soleil' by Chris Marker. I watched this last night in the documentary history course that I am taking, and I have to admit I was even more baffled by it than when I watched it the first time. Not that I understood it any better the first time; i think that I was just simply overwhelmed/enthralled the first time, and was unable to consider it from any sort of distance. I think that Werner Herzog summed up my own feelings of the film perfectly when he presented it a couple of years ago at the Film Forum. Prior to the screening (after telling a pretty hilarious story about curating at the Vienna Film Festival and hosting a disastrous screening of 'le Maitre Fous' after which he claims to be embarrassed to ever show is face in the city again) he said of 'Sans Soleil', something like: "I don't remember anything in particular about this film, but I remember feeling at the time I saw it that it was very profound and moving. So I don't really think that I can say anything about it. Let's just watch it." After the film ended, he said something like: "I don't think that it would be proper to attempt to speak about a film like that directly after watching it; there is simply too much going on to say anything intelligent at this time." I couldn't agree more. Its something that simply must be experienced for its strangeness, its beauty, and the spiraling sense of space and time that it evokes. I learned last night [SPOILER ALERT!] that Marker not only directed and edited it, but he also 'plays' the letter-writer, the composer, and the visual-effects specialist who creates 'the zone'. All of this reminds me strangely of trying to read a Thomas Pynchon book: it is clear that Marker's mastery of the visual realm and of the montage is as thorough as Pynchon's mastery of the written word and the metaphor, and you are constantly amazed by the shifting terrains that he pulls you through; however, there is, like in a Pynchon reading, the nagging sense that maybe the director is pulling a fast one on you - that you are mistaking high-falutin' gibberish for deep truths. I don't really think this is the case, but this feeling just speaks to the complexity of the film and its challenging themes and ideas.
Stephen Taylor is working on a documentary film about Newtown Creek/The Greenpoint Oil Spill/Toxic Plumes in Brooklyn right now. While it is still in the pre-production stages, we can begin to learn a little bit about the area (and its environmental complications) here, care of Vice Broadcasting (www.vbs.tv). This is fairly straightforward, and there are more parts to it than just this one (though I can't seem to locate it on their own site - only on the youtube). VBS actually has quite a few interesting environmental videos up on their site.
Some things that I saw, heard, felt, went to, or did recently (and maybe you should check out, too)
Victoire has put out an EP (A Door Into the Dark) over at eMusic. You can only get it at eMusic for now. Their review: The band's combination of chittering electronics, found sound and repetitive string and woodwind lines eloquently conjures how it feels to helplessly grope for words that don't exist to describe disquiet we can't place, how it feels to be left alone with only the colors of our own thoughts for company. ......................................................... Gomorrah, a new film (in the U.S. at least) by Matteo Garrone. This is playing at the IFC Center in New York. I think its been a hit there, so it may play in other cities. As well it should.
It is worth watching the film just to see some of the settings (like the ruined concrete ziggurat-like housing projects) and puzzle over them (there were so many times when I was pleasantly at a loss to grasp what was happening in the background of some scenes).
Go and see it if you can. If you need more prodding, here is the review that tipped me off to the film in the first place.
......................................................... David Byrne at Radio City Music Hall. I thought it was great: he's still got it, and Radio City is an incredible space (I am a sucker for red velvet walls and gold trim, and I don't like using "restrooms" - I prefer "Lounges").
Kurt Cobain died seventeen years ago today.
