“Kurt & Courtney”: What’s Love Got To Do With It?

By Amanda N. Nanawa

Despite the late-starting, specially added docfest midnight screening, a large crowd was not discouraged at a New York sneak preview of Nick Broomfield's "Kurt & Courtney" on Friday night.

Garnering extraordinary press for being slighted by the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, and facing a filibuster from Courtney Love's attorneys before its Roxie Theater screening in San Francisco, docfest gave people a taste of what Love was afraid Broomfield would show.

"Kurt & Courtney" is merely a forum that airs a variety of potential circumstances surrounding the untimely death of Kurt Cobain. Broomfield starts his investigation by tracing the troubled childhood of the late Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain, and Hole's frontwoman Courtney Love.

What Broomfield is able to capture is the essence of a tragic man who seems chained to a tragic fate. Even though the film toys with the question "Who killed Kurt Cobain?," the fascinating moments of the film explore the turnaround life of musician-turned-actress Courtney Love. People such as Hank Harrison (Love's father) and El Duce (an S & M rocker from L.A.) leave an indelible impression on the audience's minds as they sketched a not-so-fantastic picture of the volatile Love. El Duce goes so far as to tease audiences with the succinct phrase, "I know who killed Kurt Cobain".

Coincidentally, on the day of the New York screening, allstarmag.com and addict.com reported that Courtney Love is being sued by Belissa Cohen -- a Los Angeles journalist -- who claims that Love allegedly pulled her hair, kneed her in the groin, and then hit her in the face after she started taking pictures of the singer and actress who posed voluntarily.

The film opens this Friday at New York City's Cinema Village.

[Amanda Nanawa covers music related article for indieWIRE.]

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+ (May 27, 1998) First New York Docfest Set to Kick Off Tonight; "Kurt and Courtney"Screening Added; Reknowned Doc-makers Set to Participate in Festival + (May 04, 1998) Cannes Spawns Another Alternative, SLAMDUNK II + (Apr 02, 1998) Three Docs Snapped Up By Three Small Indie Distribs + (Mar 03, 1998) Love Letters -- "Kurt" Doc Flourishes Thanks to Courtney -- Part 2 + (Mar 02, 1998) A Letter from Courtney Love's Lawyers Regarding a Screening of "Kurt and Courtney" + (Mar 02, 1998) "Courtney" Screens in S.F. Despite Love's Legal Threat -- Part One + (Jan 20, 1998) Park City 98: indieBUZZ ++ 1.20.98 + (Jan 19, 1998) Park City 98: "Kurt and Courtney" Makes Long Awaited Debut + (Jan 18, 1998) Park City 98: indieBUZZ ++ 1.18.98 + (Jan 16, 1998) In Love and War: Why Did Sundance Drop "Kurt and Courtney?" posted on June 2, 1998 |Share