Kurt & Courtney
| Kurt & Courtney | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Nick Broomfield |
| Written by | Nick Broomfield |
| Produced by | Nick Broomfield |
| Starring | Nick Broomfield El Duce Tom Grant Hank Harrison |
| Music by | David Bergeaud |
Release dates | February 27, 1998 |
Running time | 95 min. |
| Language | English |
Kurt and Courtney is a 1998 documentary film about Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, made by Nick Broomfield.
About the film
The documentary begins as an investigation of the circumstances surrounding Cobain's death and the conspiracy theories which sprung up afterwards. Cobain was legally declared to have committed suicide but has been alleged by some 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 conspiracy theories and onto an investigation of Love herself, including an accusation that she supports the suppression of free speech and her subsequent 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 did contain Nirvana's performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit from Top of the Pops in 1991.
While the initial focus of the film was the alleged 'conspiracy' to murder 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 the ban on Nirvana's music, Nick Broomfield was forced to use various other bands from the US Pacific North West. Notable amongst these were Rozz Rezabek (Courtney Love's former lover) and the Theater of Sheep, Earth and Napalm Beach.
Synopsis
The film begins with a recap of Cobain's death and the media coverage which followed. Broomfield then interviews Cobain's aunt Mary 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 and Cobain's death.
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 organized by Love. He has written two books about Cobain's death.
The film also included an interview with punk singer and media sideshow El Duce (real name Eldon Wayne Hoke), who claimed that Love offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain. El Duce's band The Mentors was most famous as a paid spectacle on the staged talk show Hot Seat, where El Duce appeared alongside guitarist "Sickie Wifebeater" in the 80's, wearing a black hood and inciting the audience by claiming to endorse rape, drugs and illegitimate children. [1] [2] In a similar vein, El Duce promoted his accusations regarding Love by appearing on The Jerry Springer Show and selling his story to The National Enquirer. 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 in a train accident.
Eventually Broomfield 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) in order 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.
By film's end, Broomfield concludes that there is not enough evidence to prove that Cobain was murdered. In a later interview, he states explicitly he believes Cobain's death was a suicide.[3]
Box office
Riding a wave of controversy, Kurt and Courtney opened in one North American theatre on February 27, 1998, where it grossed $16,835 in its opening weekend. The film's final $668,228[2] gross was respectable considering the film's limited release (only 12 theatres at its widest point), independent distribution, documentary nature, and mixed reviews.
Trivia
The title of the film is inspired by the movie Sid and Nancy, a docudrama of the relationship between Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Many cite parallels among the two couples such as having led similarly chaotic lives with each other. Ironically, Courtney Love auditioned for the role of Spungen, [3] and appeared in Sid and Nancy in a minor role.
External links
- ^ http://www.tsl.pomona.edu/archives/00/0407/a_f/02.html
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xcZ5sGsINg
- ^ Miller, Prairie. "Kurt and Courtney: Interview with Nick Broomfield". Minireviews.com. 1998.