Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all died at the age of 27 between 1969 and 1971. At the time, the coincidence gave rise to some comment, but it was not until the death of Kurt Cobain, about two and a half decades later, that the idea of a "27 Club" began to catch on in public perception, reignited with the death of Amy Winehouse in 2011. Through interviews with people who knew them, such as music stars, critics, medical experts and unseen footage, the lives, music, and artistry of those who died at 27 are investigated with a bid to find answers.
A fairly conventional music documentary that covers well-trodden ground about the '27 Club' phenomenon. While the subject matter is inherently compelling, the film offers little that hasn't been explored before in countless other documentaries and articles on these iconic musicians. The talking-head interview format is standard, the archival footage selection is predictable, and the investigative angle fails to uncover meaningful new insights. The cinematography is workmanlike documentary fare, and the ending draws no particularly fresh conclusions about why these artists died young. A serviceable but unremarkable entry in the celebrity-death documentary genre.