Amy Berg’s It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is an impressive archival document as well as a celebration of the life of a tortured artist. And while the term “tortured artist” is certainly overused, it feels especially apt when writing about Buckley. Here was a beautiful man with an almost indescribably beautiful voice, beset by the tragedy of being alive and famous and supremely gifted all at the same time. Of being haunted by the ghost of a father (fellow musician Tim Buckley) whom he barely knew and who died far too young. In May of 1997, Jeff Buckley accidentally drowned in Wolf River in Tennessee. He was working on his second studio album at the time of his death. His sole record Grace is a masterpiece.
Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert (also the executor of his estate and one of the executive producers here) is a main fixture onscreen, speaking about her son with love and eloquence. “No one has loved me more or better than he,” she says early on. Berg does not sugarcoat Buckley’s somewhat tumultuous childhood, including Mary giving birth to Jeff while Tim was in another relationship––a decision that ostracized her from her own family and left Mary and Jeff mostly on their own. At one point we hear Jeff reference Anaheim, where he grew up, as: “that hellhole in Southern California where Disneyland is.” The ghost of his father would ultimately haunt Jeff as he pursued a career in music, much like Jeff’s voice haunts this documentary. His soft, nasal observations from beyond the grave underline the portrait Berg is painting. Select photos and video clips do well to add visual depth to the artist.
Former band members (Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred among them) and romantic partners serve as talking heads, speaking to Jeff’s gentleness and burgeoning genius. Both Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, musicians in their own right, reflect on their shared lives with Buckley, both the good and the bad. The way he neglected Moore once his label decided he would become famous (including a spot on People Magazine‘s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1995 list) but also the way they inspired each other. Wasser, towards the picture’s end, delivers a heartbreaker of a line, reflecting on his death: “We were so young.” She goes on, wishing that Jeff had lived on to grow past the traumas that encompassed too much of his early life.
And then there’s the music. There’s that voice. There’s much made of his love for Nina Simone and Led Zeppelin, and it’s lovely to parallel his talents with those he admired. Listening to Buckley and watching archival clips of his performances is more effective than anything else in It’s Never Over, and Berg seems to know this. The more Jeff we get, the better. That this has been a passion project for the Oscar-nominated filmmaker is clear in every frame. Jeff’s playful gags––funny, elaborate messages on his answering machines and adventurous, spur-of-the-moment instincts, such as once climbing the rafters of a venue to watch Zeppelin––paint the picture of a life well-lived, despite the struggle.
There are transitional animation sequences that leave a bit to be desired, though this is a minor critique. The meat of It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is footage of the man himself and reflections from those who loved him. “When I’m dead, that’s the only thing that will be around,” Buckley says of his music at one point in the documentary. Berg and company are determined to make sure that is not the case.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley opens in theaters on Friday, August 8.
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