It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley

I love Jeff Buckley's voice and I really loved seeing the documentary about his life and music, It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley, at Sundance this year (it prompted me to listen to his album Grace, which is a masterpiece, on repeat for a month afterwards).  I decided that I needed to see it again now that it is in wide release and it was the second film in my double feature at the Broadway last night.  What I love about this documentary is that is framed from the perspectives of the women in his life who loved him.  His mother Mary Guibert details her struggle to raise him as a single mother and the difficult relationship he had with his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, who abandoned him but also overshadowed him.  His girlfriend, experimental artist Rebecca Moore, recalls meeting him at a tribute concert for his father and describes their time together in the Lower East Side of Manhattan where he would spontaneously play at small cafes, such as Sin-é, which drew huge crowds and eventually brought him a record deal with Columbia.  She talks about his need to prove himself, his fight for complete artistic control, and the demise of their relationship due to his relentless touring schedule.  Another girlfriend, musician Joan Wasser, describes the intense pressure he felt to produce another album after the critical acclaim of Grace, the fight against his inner demons (now believed to be a chemical imbalance), and his move to Memphis in an attempt to find the peace needed to write new music before his tragic death.  These women, as well as friends and band members, provide deeply personal and emotional memories of Buckley and hearing them talk about losing him at such a young age makes his death even more heartbreaking (seeing his mother listen to the last message he left on her answering machine brought a tear to my eye).  I loved the use of never-before-seen footage of his performances as well as his own words and doodles from his journals.  If you are a fan of Jeff Buckley, this is definitely a must-see!

Note:  Stay through the credits for a bonus performance including, among other songs, an acoustic version of my favorite Buckley song "Last Goodbye" (sigh).