It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley
In 1984, Leonard Cohen released the album Various Positions, which included the intriguing song Hallelujah. That song has been covered countless times since then, but there is one version that, according to many, stands head and shoulders above all other covers: Jeff Buckley's on his 1994 album Grace. With his voice and guitar, he managed to imbue Cohen's hermetic lyrics with “glory and sorrow, beauty and pain,” according to a music critic from Time; “it’s one of the great songs”. Grace is Buckley's first and, sadly, last album: on 29 May 1997, Buckley spontaneously decided to go swimming – he drowned.
Director Amy Berg, who previously made a film about Janis Joplin, who also died far too young, paints a portrait of this influential and mysterious musician in this documentary, based on interviews with his mother, former partners and band members, among others. The film also features previously unseen material from Buckley's private archives.
