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Watch Kurt Cobain doc at home or on the big screen

“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” the searing documentary about the rock icon who killed himself in 1994, premiered earlier this year on HBO but will be on the big screen this weekend.

Chicago's Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., will feature the acclaimed film by Brett Morgen starting Friday, as will the new ArcLight Cinema 1850 Tower Drive, Glenview. The theater experience will only heighten the film's power by channeling its soundtrack of Nirvana songs through a gigantic sound system.

Morgen uses archival clips, new interviews and animated representations of Cobain's own journals to tell the story of the galvanizing musician's troubled life. You'll see pictures from Cobain's childhood, hear from his mother and his first long-term girlfriend, and see video footage of the most intimate (and terrifying) moments between Cobain and his wife, Hole frontwoman Courtney Love.

The first couple of grunge rock apparently had no shame in front of a camera, whether they or a third party was recording. (Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson can be seen manning the camcorder during one private encounter.) These glimpses into their home life also include then-infant daughter Frances Bean Cobain, sometimes in situations where it's clear her parents are under the influence.

Morgen's seemingly show-it-all film is just as interesting for what it doesn't show: the aftermath of Cobain's death. That's the part of the story fans are already very familiar with, and which fueled the 1998 film “Kurt & Courtney” and its investigation of claims that Cobain had been murdered.

“Montage of Heck” celebrates a tortured artist's enduring work without necessarily celebrating him; when the movie ends, the sadness you feel is valid on many levels. It's one of the best films of the year, and if you don't want to venture to the theater, you can watch it right now on HBO GO or HBO NOW.

Also by Brett Morgen:

The “Montage of Heck” director's resume stretches back to 1996. Morgen and co-director Nanette Burstein made a big splash in 2002 with “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” a colorful portrait of Hollywood producer Robert Evans, who provides his own narration. The flashy life story of the producer of “The Godfather” and “Chinatown” wound up on critics' top 10 lists and introduced many moviegoers to the manipulation of still images that has become a staple of documentaries in the years that followed. “The Kid Stays in the Picture” is available for digital rental from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes and PlayStation Network.

Netflix subscribers can watch Morgen's installment of ESPN's “30 for 30” series, a fascinating look at one day in sports history: “June 17th, 1994.” Relying entirely on actual TV footage from that day, “June 17th” chronicles the confluence of Arnold Palmer's final round at the U.S. Open, the opening ceremonies of the World Cup at Soldier Field, Mark Messier and the New York Rangers' Stanley Cup victory parade, Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets, and — most infamously — O.J. Simpson's white Bronco speeding through Los Angeles before Simpson turned himself in to police to face charges for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Buffalo Grove native Ronald Goldman. It's a fascinating time capsule.

Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald copy editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.

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