Near the end of Nickolas Dylan Rossi’s documentary about Elliott Smith, the late artist’s former collaborator and good friend Sean Croghan offers a hope: “Maybe we can just get past the drama and start to focus on what he created.”
It’s a coda that affirms the artistry of Smith, the downcast balladeer beloved by his fans for raw, emotional lyricism buoyed by an otherworldly sense of melody (made famous for his Oscar-nominated song “Miss Misery” from Good Will Hunting). The drama to which Croghan refers is both the songwriter’s untimely 2003 death at age 34—believed by many to have been a suicide—and the struggles with mental illness and drug addiction that preceded it. And while Rossi does touch on the darkness that swirled around Smith, Heaven Adores You is eager—sometimes too eager—to move on to the next album, the next show.
It’s a very different approach than 2009’s doc Searching for Elliott Smith, in which director Gil Reyes delved deep into that darkness. Smith’s family wasn’t on board with that effort, so none of his music was included. And, let’s be honest, a Smith documentary without those cascading finger-picked melodies is a tough sell. However, the same can be said of a film that doesn’t delve into the darkness that fed Smith’s art.
His family evidently cooperated this time, so fans will enjoy this doc for the music alone. And it’s not just the hits here. Before Rossi gets to “Waltz #2” and “Say Yes,” he traverses the efforts of a younger Smith, then living in Dallas and going by his given name of Steve. There is a recording of one of his earliest songs, “Outward Bound,” then some deep cuts from Smith’s earliest bands—Stranger Than Fiction, Harum Scarum—and his successful Portland grunge outfit Heatmiser.
Between songs, Rossi traces Smith’s life through his discography, using all of the Heatmiser and solo albums as signposts. A montage of archival imagery and modern-day street scenes from Smith’s three artistic homes (Portland, New York, Los Angeles) provide visual cues, while old interviews with the plainspoken artist are, somewhat eerily, interwoven with commentary from nearly 30 close friends and colleagues, as well as his sister.
The stories are entertaining, sometimes funny, often enlightening, and at times moving. But the darkness, which clearly informed Smith’s art and made the 2013 biography Torment Saint feel so complete, is held at bay. There’s discussion of Elliott’s strained relationship with his stepfather, but no exploration of Smith’s claims of abuse. There’s a passing aside about his difficulties at Hampshire College, but nothing on the singer’s struggles with gender and sexuality. And when Smith’s death finally approaches, the screen goes dark—no talk of the pain and paranoia that filled his final days, no mention of his relationship with Jennifer Chiba, the girlfriend who last saw Smith alive.
Instead we are given Croghan’s wish, and an uneasy feeling of fulfillment.
mbaumgarten@seattleweekly.com
HEAVEN ADORES YOU Runs Fri., May 15–Tues., May 26 at Northwest Film Forum. Not rated. 104 minutes.
