i live next door to the author in 1980 when he first move out to portland from downer grove and ill. with two of his high school bud . he seem like a normal enough guy and though he have a lot of artistic pretension . within a few year and he jump into portland post punk music scene with buddy phil and a few others and and a band that definitely wasn not head anywhere and although it get him a lot of action and include a fling with courtney love in her portland groupie day . he seem to think his musical prospect be good enough to move to san francisco and then n. y. c. i be surprise to hear that he get a publishing deal in 95 after the band crash and burn . courtney love name seem to be the clincher . i have no idea how the movie come about and especially with this cast and but i doubt that gu van sant be involve . anyway and the reviewer here seem to be unsure whether the lack of narrative focus be intentional or not and so i would just say that this be the work of a fairly intelligent guy who want to be a writer and or artist or something and but doesn not have anything to say . like kerouac without the benzedrine .