- Kurt & Courtney
Infobox_Film
name =Kurt & Courtney
imdb_id =0138563
writer =Nick Broomfield
starring =Nick Broomfield El Duce
Tom GrantHank Harrison
director =Nick Broomfield
producer =Nick Broomfield
music =David Bergeaud | distributor =
released =February 27 ,1998
runtime =95 min.
language =English
movie_series_label=
movie_series =
awards =
budget ="Kurt and Courtney" is a
1998 documentary film aboutKurt Cobain andCourtney Love , made byNick Broomfield .About the film
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 to have beenmurdered , 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. [http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9804/13/kurt.courtney/] Broomfield removed all of Nirvana's music and replaced it with music from bands mainly from the Seattle area. However when shown on theBBC , the film did contain Nirvana's performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit " fromTop 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
Zeke ,the Dwarves ,Rozz Rezabek (Courtney Love's former lover) and theTheater of Sheep and Earth.ynopsis
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. [ [http://www.tsl.pomona.edu/archives/00/0407/a_f/02.html 04/07/00: Wally George: "The Greatest Man Ever" ] ] [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xcZ5sGsINg YouTube - MENTORS on HOT SEAT part 1 ] ] 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 theBBC ), 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 byDanny 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. [Miller, Prairie. " [http://www.minireviews.com/interviews/broomfield.htm Kurt and Courtney: Interview with Nick Broomfield] ". Minireviews.com. 1998.]
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 [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=kurtandcourtney.htm] 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 betweenSex Pistols bassistSid Vicious andNancy 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, [http://www.abc.net.au/thingo/txt/s1063910.htm] and appeared in "Sid and Nancy" in a minor role.References
External links
* [http://www.nickbroomfield.com/kurtandcourtney.html Official website]
* [http://www.justiceforkurt.com/coverage/movies/ Review and clips at Justice For Kurt]
* [http://www.salon.com/media/1998/02/25media.html Review at Salon.com]
*imdb title|id=0138563|title=Kurt & Courtney
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