“It‘s a stupid idea to give your child the name of a guy who shot himself.“ Cobain is 15 and has an ambivalent relationship to his mother and that isn‘t surprising considering Mia is usually high on heroin or completely hammered, yet he doesn‘t want to give up on her like everyone who knows Mia does. Cobain has gotten used to living in a foster home through the years and there‘s a prospective, loving foster family in his future. But soon he understands that he doesn‘t belong there. The mother and son keep crossing paths. Mia is pregnant again and is wrecking herself and her unborn child. Cobain can‘t handle her self-destructiveness and the constant humilitations from his environment. It‘s time to grab fate by the balls. The cinematic eye of Frank van den Eeden (FLYING HEARTS) observes the teenager intimately. There are long takes on his face. Dutch director Nanouk lepold and her long-time producer Stienette Bosklopper, who makes her screenwriting debut with COBAIN, have a lot of confidence in him by putting their film on his shoulders. This isn‘t light material: COBAIN develops in a reluctant way. Many scenes are without dialogue, not all actions are immediately understandable, there‘s barely any light on the characters that have constructed their own suffering. Nanouk Leopold (BROWNIAN MOVEMENT), who is a permanent guest at the Berlinale with her harsh character dramas, puts a lot of trust in her protagonist and the viewers and rewards them with a moving character drama that falls outside the typical coming-of-age standard.

Lars Tunçay

Translation: Elinor Lewy