Kurt & Courtney

Kurt & Courtney is a 1998 British documentary film directed, written, narrated and produced by Nick Broomfield investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Kurt Cobain, and allegations of Courtney Love's involvement in it.

Kurt & Courtney
Directed byNick Broomfield
Produced byNick Broomfield
Written byNick Broomfield
Narrated byNick Broomfield
Music byDavid Bergeaud
Dylan Carlson
CinematographyJoan Churchill
Alex Vender
Edited byMark Atkins
Harley Escudier
Distributed byCapitol Films
Release date
  • 27 February 1998 (1998-02-27) (United States)
  • 3 July 1998 (1998-07-03) (United Kingdom)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Overview

The documentary begins as an investigation of the circumstances surrounding Cobain's death and the theories which sprung up afterwards. Cobain was legally declared to have committed suicide but has been alleged by some who worked on the case, to have been murdered, in some allegations at Courtney Love's instigation.

As Broomfield investigates the claims surrounding Cobain's death, his emphasis moves from the murder theories and onto an investigation of Love herself, including an accusation that she supports the suppression of free speech, and her fame after Cobain's death.

The film was due to play the Sundance Film Festival but Love threatened to sue the festival's organizers if they screened the film.[1] Broomfield removed all of Nirvana's music and replaced it with music from bands mainly from the Seattle area. However, when shown on the BBC, the film contained Nirvana's 1991 performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Top of the Pops.

While the initial focus of the film was to explore the possible murder of Cobain, Courtney Love's refusal to license any of Cobain's music and her unwillingness to speak on camera was used by Broomfield as evidence of her censorship of free speech.

Music

Because of Love's refusal to license Nirvana's music for the project, Nick Broomfield was forced to use various other bands from the Pacific Northwest. Notable amongst these were Zeke, the Dwarves, Rozz Rezabek and the Theater of Sheep, and Earth.

Synopsis

The film begins with a recap of Cobain's death and the media coverage which followed. Broomfield then interviews Cobain's aunt Mari who helped his love for music when he was a child. This interview is followed up with several from friends and schoolteachers who knew Cobain when he was growing up before moving onto Cobain's relationship with Courtney Love.

After establishing the background the film moves on to detail the accusations that Cobain was murdered. Broomfield interviews Tom Grant, a private investigator who has alleged that Love may have conspired to kill her husband, and wants the case re-opened by the Seattle Police Department. Grant was hired by Love, but thinks it was just so people would believe that she was innocent. Hank Harrison, Courtney Love's father, is interviewed, and states he also believes that Cobain may have been killed in a conspiracy organised by Love. He has written two books about Cobain's death.

The film also includes interviews with Portland drug culture celeb and former stripper, Amy Squier, about her explicit and personal knowledge of Kurt and Courtney's heroin use, and an interview with The Mentors singer El Duce (real name Eldon Wayne Hoke), who claimed that Love offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain. El Duce claimed in the film that he knew who killed Cobain, but said he would "let the FBI catch him." Two days after that interview was filmed, El Duce was killed when he was hit by a train.

Broomfield also shows an interview with Al Bowman, a minor Hollywood promoter, along with Norm Lubow (in disguise and using the alias "Jack Briggs"). Both introduced Broomfield to Eldon Hoke.[2]

The film also includes an interview with musician and friend of Cobain's Dylan Carlson, who had bought the shotgun that Cobain eventually used to kill himself.

Broomfield eventually moves away from the alleged conspiracy and the film turns into an investigation of Courtney Love's alleged suppression of free speech. Included in the film are phone calls from MTV saying that they were pulling out of financing the film (which was completed thanks to financing from private investors and the BBC), due to presumed pressure from Love.

There is also an interview with journalist Victoria Clarke (who wrote the book Nirvana: Flower Sniffin', Kitty Pettin', Baby Kissin' Corporate Rock Whores with Britt Collins) about how Love and Cobain had threatened her while doing research for her book on Cobain and Nirvana. Broomfield includes clips in the film of the threats made by Cobain and Clarke details the story of Love assaulting her.

The film concludes with Broomfield taking the stage at an ACLU meeting (where Love is a guest speaker) to publicly question Love about her attempts to suppress free speech and the irony of her representing the ACLU. He is pulled from the stage by Danny Goldberg, Cobain's former manager.

Reception

Riding a wave of controversy, Kurt & Courtney opened in one North American theatre on 27 February 1998, where it grossed $16,835 in its opening weekend. The film's final $668,228[3] gross was respectable considering the film's limited release (only 12 theatres at its widest point), independent distribution, documentary nature, and mixed reviews.

As of May 2020, the film holds a rating of 62% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 55 reviews.

gollark: You can use ffmpeg or something, but don't, GIFs are an awful format.
gollark: Personally, I find not having keepinv very annoying.
gollark: They probably (try and) detect VMs, too, because only !!!!!EVIL CHEATERS!!!!! need VMs.
gollark: Which is very annoying, because apart from the privacy (it can read basically any data and is designed so that you cannot know/see what it does) and security (they could have exploits) implications, it breaks stuff like WINE.
gollark: As I said, lots of anticheat things run in the kernel already.

See also

References
  1. "'Kurt and Courtney' now showing despite Love's efforts." CNN. 13 April 1998.
  2. Swaine, Jon (7 July 2016). "Rape lawsuits against Donald Trump linked to former TV producer". Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  3. Kurt & Courtney at Box Office Mojo
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