fifth up on the list for the nirvana doc project is "nirvana: up close and personal", directed by bob carruthers and released in 2007.
quick summary; conducting interviews with those who knew, worked with or knew of the band with supplemental archival footage provided alongside, director bob carruthers retells the history of nirvana, their rise, fall and subsequent legacy after kurt's passing.
thoughts; this was...fine i guess? i think this is the first doc i'm truly, actually ambivalent about. i don't have strong feelings like with other entries we've covered such as "soaked in bleach" or "about a son". i think the best i can give this is a shrug. it feels like a made for tv documentary for those who want to get up to speed on the history of nirvana and also know maybe some more tidbits about kurt they weren't already aware of. they do bring up krist and dave briefly but don't delve further. it's very kurt centric like how nirvana docs usually are. how kurt ran the band, how it was his vision, how he felt, etc. when it would be really refreshing to hear about, yknow, the significance of the other two's contributions. yes i'm glad you brought up how krist was mistaken for the manager of the band because of how he kept track of finances and booked gigs and such in the beginning and also was the mouthpiece during interviews but can we talk about how important krist really was to the sound of the band? he's irreplaceable. there would be no nirvana without krist novoselic, point blank period. also dave's there i guess. he hits hard. when like--there's so much else we could delve into. they gave some nod to chad, which i'm happy about, but once again didn't bring up the other drummers they went through (which is kinda insane cause you'll bring up chad's contributions but not dale crover???? THE guy that was important in the beginning of the band??? alright). the interviews that were conducted were fine, they got the typical roster of people low budget documentaries get when they can't actually interview the main players (even though the letterboxd description claims they did interview them, false advertising?). beware, though, this doc features a charles r. cross jumpscare. really bogs down everything when he's shown but he's not being a shit so i guess that's something. not very keen on the interviews they conducted with kurt's paternal grandfather, leland cobain, either. he's part of the "kurt wasn't suicidal" crowd and i'm not particularly fond of that notion. just because he didn't appear visibly suicidal to you doesn't mean he wasn't suicidal. also worth mentioning that the scene transitions and editing were very early 2000s and obnoxious. there's also a cover band that they use to feature songs occasionally, both with blurred footage in a recording studio and audio, that they lie and say are actually the band. it isn't, that clearly isn't kurt's voice. you can't lie to me, carruthers. overall, i'd say this is a pretty forgettable doc. i'm probably gonna forget about it by tomorrow. i'm already losing information as we speak.
is the information in this doc accurate?; somewhat. i'd say the vast majority of it is accurate with some minor inconsistencies here and there. such as asserting kurt's parents, wendy and don, divorced when he was a teen when they divorced around the time he was 7/8 or calling their music pop adjacent when they're more in line with punk rock or straight rock with minor pop elements. also bringing up kurt being clean before 91 is kinda silly and spreads the lie kurt himself conjured of only really getting into heroin at the height of nevermind. he was a pothead as a teen, dabbled in prescription drug abuse and also occasionally injected heroin but his addiction didn't worsen until their meteoric rise. there's also some courtney hate and conspiracy sprinkled in for good measure, but not overly obnoxious about it as past entries have been prone to doing. they discuss briefly the potential of kurt losing custody of frances, the ever looming rumor of divorce and speculated he was rewriting his will to exclude her when there's no true evidence of this. it's word of mouth, as i've stated before, and we will never truly know if any of these claims are true. though to claim those are a few of the reasons why he might've become suicidal and taken his life is a bit extreme. there's also talk of kurt ghostwriting hole's breakthrough album live through this and how it's an open secret. i've never been able to find concrete proof of this and courtney has discussed often that he had no involvement in the writing of that album, which i'm inclined to believe. he's not secretly spreading a message through songs on his wife's album, that's absurd. they also bring up how grunge died when nirvana disbanded. i've not gotten into this really because it's unimportant to nirvana on the whole but the label of "grunge" was a joke term bruce pavitt, cofounder of sub-pop records, coined when he was in college to describe seattle bands sound at the time that spiraled out of his hands after nirvana skyrocketed to fame and put seattle on the map for the greater public. there's no such thing as actual grunge. other than that, i'd say it's pretty solid information wise (even if it features untrustworthy sources such as charles r. cross and leland cobain).
final rating; 3 out of 5
where can this be watched?; currently "nirvana: up close and personal" is free to stream off tubi and amazon prime.
fourth up to bat for the nirvana doc project is "soaked in bleach", directed by benjamin statler and released in 2015.
quick summary; partially comprised of talking heads interviews, reenactments and real audio recordings taken by private investigator, tom grant, director benjamin statler attempts to bring to light the "truth" of kurt cobain's passing; asserting that his death wasn't a suicide as widely reported in the press, but a murder.
thoughts; ok fuck this "doc". i fucking hate tom grant's stupid ass more than anybody on the fucking planet. if i ever see him it's on sight (not serious i promise i'm just angry). this was an immensely frustrating watch from start to finish. by the time i was done, i wanted to wring that piece of shit's neck for every foul, stupid word that fell out his mouth. the first "doc" in this lineup that actively made me cry out of pure frustration. he's been pedaling his stupid conspiracy (that he categorically denies is a conspiracy, despite the fact that it clearly is) for over 30+ years now (20 at the time of the doc) and he probably won't ever stop at the rate he's going. everyone that participated to some degree is on my shit list. i hate this thing. shame on this director, shame on the reenactment actors, shame on the people who agreed to be interviewed for this thing. fuck you all, i hope you sleep rotten for the rest of your lives. also, the version i watched was in german so i couldn't read the text presented and understand what it was trying to assert. probably for the better honestly. the interviews and reenactments were nauseating enough.
is the information in this doc accurate?; no. i won't get into the nitty gritty of picking this piece of shit apart because it's not worth my time or energy frankly. i already did a fair bit when i reviewed "kurt and courtney" previously, which is a smaller scale version of this "doc", so if you want more of my thoughts then go read through that post. all you really need to know is this; tom grant is unreliable, he always has been and always will be. he has more to gain out of this than he lets on, why else would he take numerous public appearances over the years if he wanted to keep his professional integrity? every single thing he's ever talked about; the heroin dosage, the shotgun position, the penmanship on the note, all have answers which he constantly rebuffs. evidence to the contrary of his claims have been provided and he actively denies them because they don't fit with his narrative, so he sought people who do agree to inflate his fragile ego. if he actually cared about the case, then he'd accepted a long time ago that he was wrong instead of bulldozing forward with his eyes closed and fingers in his ears when faced with criticism.
i will not defend SPD nor their handling of the case. i'm not in the business of siding with police, but that does not mean i agree with tom grant either. i will not speak further on this.
also leave courtney alone. while i'm not her biggest fan, pointing the finger at her behavior at the time and labeling her a murderer is absurd.
the talk of divorce is speculation. there's no provided documents that kurt and courtney were in the process of divorce or annulling their prenup as far as we know. it's all talk and i will not entertain this claim.
rosemary carroll, kurt and courtney's lawyer at the time, has also since recanted her statements that were present in the "doc" to tom grant.
kurt was suicidal, all of those who claimed otherwise did not know kurt as well as they believed. it's very plain to see as they didn't interview anyone in kurt's close circle, only those on the outer ring. why not interview krist? or dave? or courtney? or dylan? or his mother? or anyone who did tech for the band? yknow, people who knew kurt on a day to day basis well enough to assert whether he could be or not? really sit with that for a moment and that will tell you everything you need to know about this piece of shit "doc" and its motivations. nobody involved in this production gave an actual shit about kurt, it's so plain to see. there's no empathy, no care, it's exploitative of a very vulnerable man's mental health and drug usage for others personal gain. they didn't even run through the timeline until the VERY LAST 10 minutes of the "doc". fuck this piece of shit right to hell.
final rating; 1 out of 5
where can this be watched?; currently "soaked in bleach" is unavailable on streaming services and can only be bought as a dvd off amazon.
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