Some moths are drawn to the flame and some butterflies to the wheel. The exquisitely beautiful, mercurial and prodigiously talented 90s singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley was drawn to the music business. And this contractually demanded endless touring and a multi-album commitment when he’d already poured his twentysomething-year-old life and soul into the first one, Grace, a hipster-critical smash whose commercial underperformance in the US caused execs to push him ever harder for a follow-up to recoup their investment. The business also created a world where he got to meet his heroes (such as Paul McCartney and Robert Plant), whose extravagant, good-natured praise for him sent this already highly strung young soul over the edge. He was as handsome as Jim Morrison in his sleek prime as well as – to my eye – Adam Ant with a touch of Neil Innes.
Amy Berg’s arresting documentary of a death foretold explains how young Jeff and his mother were abandoned when he was an infant by his father, Tim Buckley, a singer and counterculture figure who was to die of a heroin overdose in his late 20s. Jeff was to die at about the same age, in an accidental drowning in Wolf River Harbor, Memphis, Tennessee, in 1997, when he was just 30.
His high-spirited mum was in many ways the great love of his life – but it was singing at his dad’s memorial service that astonished the congregation and kickstarted Jeff’s career; he was a superb vocalist with a range and delicacy inspired by Nina Simone and Judy Garland. He was poignantly the very image of his dad; the press treated him like a cover version of his father, and his early dependence on cover versions such as Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah undermined the development of original material.
Berg speaks extensively to his mum, Mary Guibert – the film’s executive producer – and to two of his girlfriends, Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser. She uses Jeff’s answering machine messages and archive 90s material, including the unmistakable, moody black-and-white MTV footage, to tell a very sad story with sympathy and urgency.
• It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is in UK and Irish cinemas from 13 February.
