Rising musician Jeff Buckley had only released one album when he died suddenly in 1997. Now, never-before-seen footage, exclusive voice messages, and accounts from those closest to him offer a portrait of the captivating singer.
Amy Berg returns to the Sundance Film Festival with her fifth film as director, following Phoenix Rising (2022 Sundance Film Festival). This time, she paints an elegant and compassionate portrait of the late Jeff Buckley, whose one-in-a-generation voice and boundary-pushing artistry are spotlit for both existing fans and newcomers to his catalog. Beautiful scores and resonant, rare live performances underscore Buckley’s fullness of character — a history of the love and loss that shaped him, and thus the international music culture of the late 20th century. Discordant as Buckley’s end is, Berg makes space for the consonances in between, imbuing the film with special archival material and the permeation of Buckley’s own diaristic narration. This film is a hum that echoes, and like Buckley’s “Hallelujah,” it takes on a light and life of its own.
Amy Berg returns to the Sundance Film Festival with her fifth film as director, following Phoenix Rising (2022 Sundance Film Festival). This time, she paints an elegant and compassionate portrait of the late Jeff Buckley, whose one-in-a-generation voice and boundary-pushing artistry are spotlit for both existing fans and newcomers to his catalog. Beautiful scores and resonant, rare live performances underscore Buckley’s fullness of character — a history of the love and loss that shaped him, and thus the international music culture of the late 20th century. Discordant as Buckley’s end is, Berg makes space for the consonances in between, imbuing the film with special archival material and the permeation of Buckley’s own diaristic narration. This film is a hum that echoes, and like Buckley’s “Hallelujah,” it takes on a light and life of its own.
