Henry O'Brien
Documentaries about musicians who died too soon will forever be a subject of fascination for filmmakers, artists, and audiences. The goal of these films can be to either illuminate or reveal certain aspects about these performers who dazzled the world before they sadly left it, especially when much of their inner life remains an enigma. The worst thing a biography doc can do is fail to capture the spirit and power of the artist.
Academy Award-nominated documentarian Amy J. Berg (Deliver Us from Evil, An Open Secret) attempts to understand and examine the musician Jeff Buckley in her new doc, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Buckley became known for his solo studio album “Grace,” which grew in the critical and popular consciousness following his 1997 drowning accident.
Berg uses interviews with Buckley’s mother, former romantic partners, and bandmates and contemporaries of the time, including Aimee Mann, to look at the singer’s life and career, which has him starting in Los Angeles and venues in East Village, Manhattan, to making “Grace” and struggling to grapple with newfound fame.
The film strictly follows a womb-to-tomb three-act structure, which, after watching a plethora of musician documentaries, can feel tiring. But Berg incorporates flourishes of Buckley’s creativity in fascinating animated sequences and raw footage and audio of Buckley from the time to make her portrait of Buckley distinct. For any ardent Buckley fan, the documentary may not be illuminating, but it will renew a sense of who Buckley was and who he could have been.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is a labor of love for Berg, but especially for her interview subjects. The film opens on Buckley’s former partner, Rebecca Moore, tearing up over the thought of discussing the musician. The emotions still feel quite raw and intimate, hinting at the emotional impact Buckley left behind.
The film touches on the cycles that artists like Buckley’s biological rockstar father, Tim, fell into with success, failure, and drugs. Archived audio reveals how little Buckley knew of his father on a personal level before he died of a heroin and morphine overdose. While the rockstar-who-died-too-young has long been a far too familiar tale, Berg’s documentary wants to make it clear that Buckley was his own kind of artist.
Buckley’s influences are vast and wide-ranging. Predictable artists such as Led Zeppelin, but also great female singers like Nina Simone and Edith Piaf. Berg takes great interest in understanding Buckley’s own masculinity and inner workings, along with his musical heroes.
Interviews with Moore and others depict Buckley having a sensitivity that made him empathize with female artists. The documentary shows the musician making a great effort to make his fellow performer feel safe at shows, holding their well-being in high regard.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley features delightful anecdotes from people who knew the singer and highlights his own creativity and passion for music and the world. One particular moment displays this when Buckley meets Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The meeting became another example of Buckley finding vast influences, while also displaying his gleefully inquisitive side.
Berg’s film does take a fairly standard third act turn into eventually talking about the musician’s struggle following the release of “Grace” and his death. The sense of inevitability and bad tidings can be apparent from watching any other artist. Even if it does line up with Buckley’s life and career as a musician, it becomes quite tiring and never feels like that’s how life exactly happens.
The movie makes an effort to show how the artist’s death didn’t have anything to do with his struggles with his post-“Grace” life. While anyone could look that up, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley knows that narratives can create misconceptions, so some basic fact finding can be its own artistic act. Additionally, the dissection of what Buckley was feeling about fame and how he felt stuck can resonate with any creative soul.
To reiterate, Buckley’s lifelong fans can be sure to find a few revealing nuggets about the 30-year old singer. While none of the information will be particularly new, the reverential nature that Berg gives to the film makes It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley definitely worthwhile. Berg’s admiration for the musician radiates throughout and makes her latest documentary as much a personal statement as it is a biography. Maybe Buckley would have appreciated that.
