All I Can Say

The title All I Can Say is derived from the opening lyric of Blind Melon's breakthrough song "No Rain". The documentary presents Hoon's life largely in chronological order, utilizing footage he recorded on his Hi8 camcorder, often with on-screen date and time stamps. This footage includes the early days of Blind Melon's formation in Los Angeles in 1990, Hoon's experiences and collaborations with Guns N' Roses during the recording of their Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II albums, his interactions with family and bandmates, the band's rapid ascent to stardom following the success of "No Rain" and its iconic music video, and the period leading up to his death on October 21, 1995, while on tour for Blind Melon's second album, Soup. Intimate moments include Hoon documenting his girlfriend Lisa Sinha's pregnancy and the birth of their daughter, Nico Blue, alongside his observations of 1990s popular culture and current events as he experienced them. ==Production==

All I Can Say was assembled from an archive of approximately 200 hours of personal video footage shot by Shannon Hoon on a Hi8 camcorder between 1990 and 1995. The directors curated Hoon's extensive footage, presenting it chronologically to allow him to tell his own story. The film intentionally avoids external commentary, voice-overs, or contemporary interviews with other subjects, relying solely on Hoon's own footage and voice. This approach has led to the film being described as a "found-footage documentary". Stephen Whitty for Screen Daily said, "In a way, the film is its own genre – the found-footage documentary. There are no interviews with other people, no self-described experts. Just Hoon, who – adding to the film's melancholy sense of waste – comes across as an unspoiled, charismatic and mostly amiable young man." It is considered Hoon's final completed work, realized over two decades after his death. ==Release==

All I Can Say premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2019. Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired the distribution rights. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting traditional theatrical releases, the film was released in "virtual cinemas" and through partnerships with record stores and music venues beginning June 26, 2020. ==Reception==

Critical response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". For Variety, Andrew Barker wrote, "At one point, Hoon is asked how he keeps from getting lost in the whirlwind of stardom that has taken over his life, and he replies that this is the very reason he’s always walking around with a video camera: capturing enough of the mayhem so that he can try to make sense of it later on, when things finally calm down. He never got that opportunity, but full credit to the makers of All I Can Say for giving the rest of us a chance". For BraveWords, Aaron Small gave it an 8 out of 10 rating, and wrote, "Impactful, intriguing, intimate, and honest, All I Can Say is an insider’s less than glamorous look at essentially immediate, and short-lived success". For The Guardian, Phil Hoad described it as "a quizzical time capsule of pre-internet fame from the perspective of a troubled but capable young man who knew his way around a camera". For NME, Mark Beaumont suggested, "If we're to understand Hoon's life through his footage, it's as a victim of a lifestyle that amplifies not just the sounds in your head but the problems at your core". For The Irish Times, Tara Brady commended the directors for having "sifted through hundreds of hours of footage to fashion something that allows for a sense of the person behind the rock casualty". Accolades The film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sound Unseen, Best Documentary Feature at the New Hampshire Film Festival, The film was awarded Best International Musical Documentary at the 2020 In-Edit Festival in Spain. ==References==