A new documentary, It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley, which examines the life of the late singer-songwriter, will open in movie theaters on Aug. 8. An HBO premiere will follow this winter.
The film, by director Amy Berg (Phoenix Rising, West of Memphis), features never-before-seen footage from Buckley’s archives. His mother, Mary Culbert, and former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser gave new interviews for the picture. It also includes commentary from Buckley’s former bandmates, Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred, as well as singer-songwriters Ben Harper and Aimee Mann.
“I’ve spent practically my entire career trying to make this film, which takes a very intimate look at one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time,” Berg said in a statement. “I’m so excited Magnolia and HBO have come on board to share this film with the world and give old fans and new audiences a chance to experience Jeff from this unique vantage point.”
The film looks at how he followed in the footsteps of his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley — who died at age 28 when Jeff was 8 — and launched his own music career, signing to Columbia Records. A concert recording, Live at Sin-é, came out in 1993, and Buckley’s sole studio album, Grace, came out in August 1994, three years before his death at age 30. His own legacy has grown ever since.
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When the film premiered at Sundance in January, Rolling Stone wrote that the picture “does justice to [Buckley’s] legacy.”
“Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, has been extremely protective over her son and his songs, but she’s opened up the vaults for Berg’s film,” the review said. “There are pictures of Buckley as a chubby, smiling baby, and rocking a metalhead shag mullet as a teen; clips of him playing in high school bands, glimpses into notebooks filled with an elegant scrawl that you can only describe as Buckleyesque. Music from every phase of his career, in both rough-demo and finished form, plays over the soundtrack, along with voicemail messages — including the last one he left his mom — and recording session banter. Rarities abound, which makes this feel as much like an archive tour as a movable scrapbook.”