Cobain (2018)

Directed by: Nanouk Leopold | 94 minutes | drama | Actors: Bas Keizer, Naomi Velissariou, Wim Opbrouck, Dana Marineci, Cosmina Stratan, Sofia Dossantos, Maria Kraakman, Maartje van de Wetering, Thomas Ryckewaert, Ward Weemhoff, Tamar van den Dop, Oscar van Woensel, Jurre Otto, Tonko Bossen, Belinda van der Stoep, Thomas Dudkiewicz, Adison dos Reis, Cyriel Guds, Poal Cairo, Under Dogan, Frans de Wit

Nanouk Leopold has been working with producer Stienette Bosklopper (Circe Films) for about twenty years. For ‘Cobain’, Leopold’s sixth full-length film, the collaboration has expanded and Bosklopper is no longer only the producer, but she is also responsible for the screenplay (her first). In short, the film is about fifteen-year-old Cobain (newcomer Bas Keizer) who is in a home in Rotterdam because his mother Mia (Naomi Velissariou) is a drug addict. When Mia becomes pregnant again, Cobain wants to take care of her, so as not to put his brother or sister in the same situation. To earn money, he goes to work for Wickmaier (Wim Opbrouck), his mother’s former pimp. Wickmaier has long since given up on Cobain’s mother, but Cobain continues to believe until the very end that he can put his mother back on the right path.

Keizer knows how to convey that rock-solid faith, which goes hand in hand with naivety. He sees no obstacles in his mission to give his mother a place. For example, when he asks a former friend of Mia’s for help, and she tears him down because she has children of her own to raise, Cobain becomes genuinely angry. Especially in the beginning, Leopold regularly opts for long, wordless scenes, in which the camera stays close to Cobain. The stern look in his eyes keeps Keizer up to the end, but on the few moments that he is happy with his mother, he suddenly blossoms completely. It is a very fine role of someone who has literally been plucked from the schoolyard without any acting experience.

Leopold is often accused of making distant films. In a sense this also applies to ‘Cobain’, but mainly because she doesn’t seem to take a stand. Things are shown as they are, without being ostentatiously judged. When the heavily pregnant Mia starts drinking at a barbecue, nobody is there to say anything. She is even offered a new drink, after she has just gone over her neck. In the end it is Cobain who goes against it, and is subsequently sent away by his mother. The poor good guy. And that’s not the only confrontation Cobain faces.

The most problematic confrontation takes place halfway through the film, when Cobain wants to experiment with makeup and then finds money in the handbag of Adele (Dana Marineci), one of the sex workers, that she hasn’t paid to Wickmaier. When she catches him in the bathroom with makeup and all, his instinct is to blackmail her. In exchange for his silence, he wants to sleep with her. This does indeed produce a beautiful scene, in which Cobain immediately loses his apparent position of power the moment he is hesitantly in his boxer shorts. But what does this say about his character? He is ostensibly portrayed as a well-meaning young lad who has yet to find his own voice, but apparently he does not hesitate to exploit a woman for his own gain. It is remarkable to say the least that the film almost completely ignores Adele after this.

And so there are more things that twist. It’s nice to see Tamar van der Dop working as a potential foster mother in her vegetable garden, but she is so quickly dismissed that you wonder why this trip is even made in the script. And as symbolically correct as the ending may be, Cobain’s final moments with his mother are in stark contrast to the realism aimed at throughout the film. Nevertheless, ‘Cobain’ has a lot to offer. From the sparse, but well-aimed soundtrack by Harry de Wit, to the beautiful views of Rotterdam. And of course the acting debut of Bas Keizer, who knows how to carry the film well.