To remember her by

If Kurt Cobain was Seattle's tragic figure in the early 1990s, Mia Zapata was its senseless victim. The Gits singer (above right) was young, charismatic, and full of boundless punk-rock energy and promise, all of which came to a horrific end when she was raped and murdered in the summer of 1993.

Documentarian Kerri O'Kane covers the before and after in "The Gits," which is being screened for free at Newbury Comics next Monday, the 15th anniversary of Zapata's death. (The DVD hits stores the next day.) It's a flawed look at its subject, neither an effective crime procedural (the killer is eventually found years later in what appears to be a case of serendipity) nor an in-depth examination of what made the band tick.

Anyone interested in learning much about the actual music Zapata made during her short life will be disappointed; even with the abundance of live footage, the only song heard in full is the excoriating "Second Skin," and the DVD relegates only a handful of complete performances to the extras.

What "The Gits" is is a love letter to Zapata, and the fact that so many of the interviewees are labeled simply as friends indicates both the singer's magnetism and the love that came her way. The movie's most frustrating aspect may also be its key strength: It demands further investigation while presenting a compelling subject who genuinely deserves it. It may paint an incomplete picture, but it's the only picture of Zapata we have. That, and the music.

"The Gits" screens at Newbury Comics (332 Newbury St.) Monday at 6 p.m. The all-ages event is free.