Film | Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck | Review
Courtney of Sundance Institute
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
One of the most talked about documentaries during this year's Sundance Film Festival was the Brett Morgen directed Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck. Being a music guy, I figured why not watch this biopic and garner a little more insight into the glorious and often troubled life of the lead singer of one of the most influential bands of all time.
The documentary itself was a no-holds-barred look at the life of Cobain from a chronological perspective. Morgen was given full access to a variety of journals, paintings, demos, home movies and personal items that nobody had ever seen or watched. This made the documentary more genuine from a factual standpoint. From the early days of his youth, we saw glimpses of brilliance and promise from Cobain. We also saw the destructive internal demons he was dealing with making him an outsider amongst the inner circles of his peers.
The story starts in Aberdeen, Washington, the birthplace of Cobain. At an early age Cobain showed a penchant for an imagination that he would transform into art, specifically drawings. A caring and sensitive Cobain had also developed a keen interest in music. Early influences began to shape his musical aspirations and soon it became the center of his world. From this, the birth of Nirvana took shape and would lead the band to unimagined stardom. Enter: Courtney Love. At this point Nirvana was beginning to become a household name. Courtney Love, a fellow musician, became involved with Cobain leading to a turbulent relationship infused with drug-fueled episodes. You could clearly see a transformation that showcased both the loving and sensitive side of Cobain as well as his destructive side. The birth of his child, Frances Bean, dramatically changed his volatile mood swings by showing us a side that only lived behind closed doors. A caring father, Cobain made it clear that Frances was the center of his universe and he would adjust his lifestyle to become a model father.
The film is full of creative stills that come to live as the entries of his journal are brought to the forefront. It’s as though we are witnessing him write them out for the first time. The documentary can be called a celebration and also a very intimate look that will catch many by surprise. A victim of his own success, the documentary is a masterful piece that hopes to give us a true understanding of the life of Kurt Cobain. The film is set to premiere May 4th on HBO. Check out the trailer below.
Sundance 2015: "The Experimenter" Review
Photo by Jason Robinette | Courtesy Sundance Institute
Based on Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments in the 1960's, "The Experimenter" follows Milgram, played by Peter Sarsgaard, as he carries out his famed experiment and the fallout he must deal with afterwards. Written and directed by Michael Almereyda, the film premiered last week at Sundance.
If you are not familiar with Milgram's experiments, check out this video. The experiment that opens the film is his experiment on obedience which he performed during his time at Yale. Following WWII and specifically the trial of Adolf Eichmann - the Nazi SS member who was responsible for the logistics and transportation of Jews to the ghettos and death camps - Milgram wanted to understand how the Holocaust happened. During the much publicized trial, Eichmann showed no remorse and insisted that he was only following orders. This gave birth to the experiment.
The basic premise was to test how much pain a subject could inflict on another at the orders of and authority figure, in this case, the "experimenter." A "learner" and a "teacher" were designated and the teacher read questions and issued an electric shock to the learner if the question was answered incorrectly. With each incorrect question the voltage would be increased on the shock and the leaner would start to scream in pain and ask for the experiment to be over. The trick was that the "learner" was a man involved in the study and there were no actual shocks issued. A majority of the time the true subject, the "teacher," went all the way to the end of the line, even though they heard the learner scream in pain and ask to stop. Very few actually stopped the experiment and wouldn't continue. And if you're wondering if they were forced to continue by the "experimenter," the authority figure in the room? The answer is no. The experimenter simply stated that the experiment must continue.
The film employs some interesting techniques, including breaking the fourth wall and having Milgram talk to the audience from a seemingly omniscient point of view, offering a sort of documentary style voice over to lead us through his story. Sarsgaard gives a great performances with Winona Ryder playing opposite as his wife Sasha. Throughout his life, Milgram continued experimenting and perhaps the more interesting aspect of the film is how, while this isn't a truly experimental film, the director experiments with us, the audience, taking us in and out of the story and at times, asking us to work really hard to suspend our disbelief.
A truly fascinating experiment in and of itself, the film continues on and follows Milgram as he dreams up new experiments. Ultimately, the obedience experiment would be his most famous and infamous, garnering criticism from the academic and professional community.