The Jeff Buckley Documentary finally came out. I have since watched it about 5 times now and I can say it’s an okay documentary. It definitely went into detail about his life, and I did like how they crafted it. The animations they made from his doodles was insane. They were really nice and added a lot to the documentary. It did not however change my view on his mother.
It fortified it. I can say i9 watched it with a clear mind, but she was just off through the whole thing. The vibe she gave off was not a mother wanting to make a documentary for her son, it was more like see was doing it just to do it. She was doing it for the money, and to me that’s what isn’t good about his mother. She also seems to be holding back so much also hiding something.
She told a story of how her and a few friends were seen by Jeff doing a bit of drugs and she told him not to tell anyone, or they would all go to prison. Almost like a threat. I feel like there is something way deeper to this story and she didn’t tell the whole thing. She told the story and didn’t spend any time on it whether to explain or talk in a bit more detail about it. She also made me really mad and dislike her when one of Jeff Buckley’s colleagues told a story about her before a show he was doing in his hometown. Jeff’s whole family came to see him, and he was about to go on when they had to hold off on the show for a moment due to his mother and one of her friends being found in the parking lot as high as a kite. They then go to share voicemails from him calling his mother about the situation and he seems to be very angry, rightfully so, but they play if off as a funny and silly little event, but I think it paints a perfect picture of who his mother is. She is seen throughout the documentary a handful of times, and each time made it more clear of how narcissistic she was and how it seems she is only using Jeff for money.
Another thing about this documentary is how they are still trying to play off his death as normal. It isn’t normal and it certainly doesn’t add up. They say in the documentary that they believe he was mentally ill suffering from a manic-depressive disorder much like Jimi Hendrix and other artists during the time, but the disorder wasn’t well studied at the time therefore they couldn’t have known he had this disorder. I see it as playing it off trying to pin it on something that could happen and that is normal, but spoiler alert it was anything but normal. His last girlfriend, Joan Wasser, a fellow songwriter and musician was also in the documentary and gave a few stories about jeff but one that stook out to me was a story they told about Jeff’s later years. It was maybe a couple of months before he passed. He supposedly told her that he was seeing visions of the devil and had a dream that he had a brain tumor and died but while they were telling these stories the camera cuts back to Joan Wasser who says Jeff told her about seeing visions and talking to the devil but when she says this her face curls into an unusual and odd facial expression one that seemed like she was almost happy, like a smirk but more devious and odd, especially since she was talking about the death of her boyfriend. My theory about this wasn’t really clear at first and then I found out about Duper’s Delight. It is a condition when certain people involuntarily smile, smirk, or laugh while lying. The micro expression is brief and a brief second uncontrollable movement that in turn reveals true emotion. Sometimes they feel this smile or muscle movement happen and try to hide it by biting their lips or tightening their mouth which only makes the movement look like a guilty smirk. It comes from the dopamine someone gets from lying and then in turn getting away with it. The condition is also often associated with narcissism which is an interesting correlation especially in this circumstance.
These things make me think they still aren’t telling the truth and that something else is to blame for his death.
When Jeff was found in the Wolf River when his body was found and what makes this interesting is where the exact spot he was found is located. He was found in the river fairly close if not across from a bar he played in weekly called the Barristers on Beale Street. Beale street is a very historical street in Memphis due to it being named “Home of the Blues”.
All of this put together is quite odd. Jeff’s mother hiding things, his last girlfriend lying, and him being found near the “Home of the Blues”, makes an odd story, and one that needs to be addressed. He knew he was going to die. He has lyrics and journal entrees about these thoughts and predictions, even some about drowning. Also, some of his entrees were not published with the rest of his journal, which maybe they were personal but seeing the documentary the mother doesn’t care about personal things she cares about if it will hurt her image. She not only published his diary, his last album which he wished to burn, but she also allowed a few baby pictures of him in the documentary which were …… let me just say interesting. If she can put those photos in a movie about Jeff’s life I highly doubt, she is thinking about what is personal or not. So, I also think she is using the journal to set a narrative. He probably had things about her in the journal along with entrees about his death which she had removed before publishing it to the public.
He did not like his record label, nor did he trust them. He didn’t like his mom, he loved his mom due to her being his mom, but he didn’t like her. He left her and said on a few occasions he wanted nothing to do with her. He was a great writer, too great. They had to do something about it. Who “they” is, is still a mystery but one that needs to be found.
A story that needs its truth told. I do think a lot of the documentary was somewhat truthful. Not everyone in it was lying I could tell that but somewhere, and the people that were lying were important pieces to his story. So that is why I believe the documentary only partially did Jeff justice.
This is all that I really have to say about it. It was good but could have been better. I could talk a lot more about it but for right now that’s it for this blog.
I think I’ll have to give this documentary a watch. I will say I don’t know much about Jeff Buckley, but I’m always willing to learn.
Oh I LOVEEE this documentary. I know we have talked about this before, but Jeff Buckley ISSSSS the goat. I agree about the mom btw!