The long-awaited full-length documentary on the late artist, who drowned in 1997, The film hits US cinemas in August, it’s showing alongside other tempting music docs including Questlove’s Sly Lives! (AKA The Burden Of Black Genius) and early-’70s portrait One To One: John & Yoko.
Ever since the ‘Hallelujah’ singer’s tragic death from drowning in May 1997, aged 30, there have been many attempts to make a film about his life. The doc itself revealed the late star’s mother objected to Brad Pitt playing her son in a biopic.
Jeff’s full name is Jeffrey Scott Buckley, Jeff only met his father, Tim Buckley, a few times during his childhood, and the ’60s cult folk icon was not present in Jeff’s life. (sources: Diffuser - The Guardian, Mojo;Wikipedia)
Jeff Buckley drowned in Memphis’ Wolf River 20 years ago. His legacy amounted to one completed studio LP – 1994’s near-perfect Grace – a handful of fantastic live shows and many broken hearts. Jeffrey Scott Buckley was born in Anaheim, 17 November 1966 died in Memphis, 29 May 1997.—
According to Buckley estate “gatekeeper” Jack Bookbinder, the film has been in the works since Berg finished her 2015 Janis Joplin documentary Little Girl Blue. “Amy spent a good chunk of her life immersed in Jeff ’s work, and building a relationship with Mary [Guibert, Buckley’s mother],” says Bookbinder. “She’s got a great reputation, and trust was established.”
Buckley’s estate also sought the opportunity to set the record straight. “My sole purpose for appearing in the film is to say, there was no foul play, no drugs or alcohol in Jeff ’s system, no suicide,” says Bookbinder’s colleague, former tour manager Gene Bowen. “Rolling Stone’s story just days after Jeff died should have published the autopsy but instead left an air of mystery. Jeff only went into the [Mississippi] river because he saw the beauty of the water and went for it.”
It’s Never Over… – named after a lyric in Buckley’s Grace album ballad Lover, You Should Have Come Over – promises previously-unreleased live footage, voice messages and sketchbooks, plus animated sequences. But Berg’s comment, “Difficult job”, is reflected in the experience of Buckley drummer and film interviewee Parker Kindred, who has seen the finished version.
“There’s great footage, like Jeff playing [downtown NYC cubbyhole] Sin-é, and pivotal moments like Jeff meeting Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,” says Kindred. “But if I told the story, I’d talk to more musicians, who Jeff hung out with and leaned on. I’d want to know more about the rumour that Jimmy Page might have produced Jeff ’s second album. This is more of a movie about relationships with women, from his mother [Mary Guibert] to [first girlfriend] Rebecca [Moore] to Joan [Wasser, AKA Joan As Police Woman]. It starts with three women crying, which sets a tone.”
Other key voices including Columbia A&R man Steve Berkowitz, the late Hal Willner, and Buckley’s aunt Peggy Hagberg were, significantly, not invited to contribute. Also absent is former manager Dave Lory, who was sacked by Guibert following Buckley’s death. “I’m the only one that knew Jeff that well during the four years we were together,” Lory claims.
