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Inspector Clouseau of Nonfiction Film
Reviewed by Bruce Cantwell
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| When I think of contemporary documentaries, perhaps by Errol Morris or Berlinger and Sinofsky I think of an invisible interviewer piecing together a seamless story. It's impossible to imagine a Nick Broomfield documentary without a supporting role by Nick Broomfield. Awkward moments where the director is accidentally caught on camera must occur during most documentary projects. Most directors edit them out. Nick can't afford to. If he did, nothing would be left. |
| Kurt & Courtney is a more entertaining comedy of errors than Nick's previous feature documentary, Hollywood Madam. He seems more secure in his role as the Inspector Clouseau of nonfiction film. Sure, Heidi Fleiss and Ivan Nagy jerked him around pitilessly but at least they talked to him. He doesn't fare as well with Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. |
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| Courtney Love, perhaps understandably, wants no part of a documentary about her husband's tragic death. Failing to block the production completely, she denies Nick the right to use any of Kurt's music in the film (a serious drawback in any documentary about a musician), refuses to talk to him, and uses her clout to get some of the film's backers (MTV) to pull out.
If it weren't for Kurt's Aunt Mary, some of Kurt's pre-fame friends, and Courtney's father Hank Harrison (who thinks his daughter killed her hubby) Nick would have no film at all.
It's not surprising that the woman who did so much to make Nick's job impossible comes off as a domineering bitch. Former Portland heartthrob certainly sees her as such. |
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| One of the most amusingly loathsome characters we meet is a drunken, masked performer known as El Duce. He claims that Courtney Love offered him $50,000 to whack Kurt. Believe it or don't. We'll never know because before filming was complete, El Duce fell in front of a train. Foul play or just another night out? |
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| Another winning moment captures the head of the ACLU vociferously suppressing Nick's freedom of speech when he makes a last ditch effort to ask Courtney a question at a fund raising event.
A friend of ours who saw this film said that it was sad. It's true that one way or another Kurt Cobain came to a sad end, but this film is so aggressively not about him that if we feel empathy for anyone, it's the filmmaker, who seems to be suffering an unending bad hair day.
 
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