The most oft-repeated claim by director Brett Morgen concerning his documentary Cobain: Montage of Heck is that he made the film for Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of the late Nirvana frontman, so she could have two hours with the father she never got a chance to know.
If that were Morgen's sole intention, he should be praised. The videotaped footage of Kurt Cobain and his baby daughter is charming and heartbreaking. He was clearly a devoted and goofy father, even as he struggled with depression and addiction. The director also does an incredible job wending together B-roll footage of music video shoots and live performances, as well some beautiful animated sequences using the audio from self-made cassettes that Cobain left behind, as a kind of alternate angle look at his rise from underground artist to multi-platinum-selling rock star.
What Morgen didn't need is the copious talking head interviews with Cobain's family, an ex-girlfriend, and an agitated, chain-smoking Courtney Love, all of whom claim to have some sense of the turmoil in Cobain's mind.