‘It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley’ Movie Review – Spotlight Report

It’s been nearly 30 years since the untimely passing of singer songwriter Jeff Buckley. An artist who is lauded as being one of the most talented of his time and also continues to be a poster child for the “what if” possibility of a musical legacy that never was.

Director Amy Berg (Janis Little Girl Blue, Deliver Us From Evil) has crafted a documentary that is both a love letter to Jeff Buckley’s short life, but also gives fascinating insight into the man from the women who loved him the most and his closest friends and former bandmates. Berg uses a heady mixture of archival footage, interviews, cassette recordings of voicemails, vox pops and animations to weave the narrative of Buckley’s life.

His mother, Mary Guibert (also executive producer) talks about how from birth, Jeff was gifted with an angelic voice, an immediate musical talent and a sensitive disposition. His father, singer songwriter Tim Buckley, left before he was born and was barely in his life. Jeff had resented the fact that he was repeatedly compared to his father. Tim died in 1975 at the age of 28, something that almost haunted Jeff through his life. And sadly the fact that Jeff passed so young at age 30 didn’t help those comparisons after his death.

Berg’s film though prefers to not linger on the sadness and brings us back to the love, adoration and admiration that those closest to him had. Two of Jeff Buckley’s key muses in his life were Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser who both share some details of their relationships with Buckley; and with so many women involved in this project it definitely gives the film a female gaze and warmth. Often complimenting his sensitivity and desire to advocate for the women in his life and their influence on his music.

When he was first signed to Columbia, Buckley set himself a challenge of writing 100 songs in 5 weeks; that’s 20 songs a week. He was fixated on being seen as a proper songwriter with his own catalogue of songs and like many artists was his own worst critic. He was praised by musical peers like Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Thom Yorke of Radiohead and he was fortunate enough to perform for and with his idols like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Robert Plant. David Bowie is even quoted as saying ‘Grace’ is the best album ever made.

The paradox of his music was his raw feral rock energy influenced by Led Zeppelin as well as his ethereal angelic vocals inspired by Nina Simone or Edith Piaf. Songs like “Grace” or “Eternal Life” were full of raw anger whilst his cover of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” is revered as surpassing the original. A mix of a rock ‘n’ roller and a hipster chanteuse, he didn’t align with any of the current mainstream genres. Buckley was plagued with the dichotomy of wanting to be creative and put his feelings and emotions to music, but never wanted the trappings of fame or success that came with it.

Buckley’s career may have been short but it was wildly varied, performing in the tiny coffee house Sin-e in the East Village of New York where he was discovered by music executives through to stadiums and festivals in Europe. Initially when his first (and only) studio album ‘Grace’ was released, it was huge internationally but underperformed in the US charts. His record label insisted on him touring for nearly 3 years straight and then were demanding a follow up record to recoup.

As the pressure mounted, Buckley started falling deeper into a depressive state, worried that he could not live up to that first record. He retreated to a shack in Memphis to focus on writing his second record, tentatively titled ‘My Sweetheart The Drunk’. Those closest to Buckley recount him calling each of them to say how much he loved them and was sorry for any misgivings of the past. As the film nears its end it alludes to how Buckley may have even had bipolar or manic depression. His death, an accidental drowning in the Wolf River Harbour in Memphis Tennessee happened at 30 years of age. And whilst incorrectly mislabelled as a drug overdose by some media outlets or even a suicide, all those closest to him believe that was not the case and it was merely an accident.

For those not familiar with Jeff Buckley or his work, this is a comprehensive summation of Buckley’s all too short life and why he was considered such a luminary despite only ever releasing one official studio album. For those who loved him most, the grief and sadness Berg depicts is palpable. They lost a son, a lover, a friend, a bandmate. For fans of Buckley it reminds us of a talent that we were robbed of too soon. For all of us, his legacy is never over as new generations get an opportunity to discover his work, his talent lives on.

“It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” is releasing through Piece of Magic Entertainment and screening in select Australian cinemas from 30 April 2026.