It's a heartfelt tribute to a man who never felt loved enough.
The Nomi Song (2005)
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:34
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: A fascinating, if occasionally frustrating, documentary about Klaus Nomi, a cult figure in the New Wave Underground scene during the '80s.
Theatrical Release:Feb 4, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: He came from outer space to save the human race. Looks like an alien, sings like a diva - Klaus Nomi was one of 1980's most profoundly bizarre appearances. He was a cult figure in the New Wave... He came from outer space to save the human race. Looks like an alien, sings like a diva - Klaus Nomi was one of 1980's most profoundly bizarre appearances. He was a cult figure in the New Wave Underground scene who sang pop music like opera and brought opera to club audiences. He was a performer with a "look" so strong, that his first audiences went wild before he even opened his mouth. On the verge of international fame as a singer, he instead became one of the first prominent artists to die of AIDS. But the reaction Klaus Nomi provoked was so strong, that he is still unforgettable, even 20 years after his death. Nomi constructed his own myth out of elements so completely "wrong", yet so deliberate, that it all seemed oddly possible. He was an alien amongst the outcasts, a tortured soul who also radiated optimism at a time when optimism was "officially" out of fashion. He was as much a genuine talent as he was the engine of his own destruction. His appeal is not easy to explain in words. He has to be seen - and heard - to be believed. It is hard to limit this film to being called a documentary. It is rather a non-fiction film, maybe even an oral history. But it's also visual, partly because Nomi himself was so visual, someone who's main concern was putting forth an image of himself in everything he did - literally illustrated by the photos, films, videos and artworks that go with it. What unifies the various stylistic elements is Klaus Nomi himself, not only the all pervasive image he put out, but more importantly, his effect on others. It's a story that grows out of a group of people who influenced him, loved him, felt pity for him or betrayed by him, yet above all, were inspired by him. The Nomi Song is a story of love of music and love of performing at a time when it seemed as though everyone was struck by a sense of urgency to make something - anything - simply because "somewhere in the great cosmic plan we all knew that we only had a finite amount of time together and we had to make the most of it." -- © Palm Pictures [More]
Starring: Ann Magnuson, Gabriele Lafari, David McDermott
Starring: Ann Magnuson, Gabriele Lafari, David McDermott
Director: Andrew Horn
Director: Andrew Horn
Studio: Palm Pictures
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Reviews for The Nomi Song
Paints a vivid portrait of the sense of play and possibility that animated the best of the punk and new wave movements.
While he was never a Top 40 hitmaker, Klaus Nomi was an important artist...and The Nomi Song is a cinematic anthem to his unorthodox individuality.
His career was brief but well-documented and Andrew Horn's loving tribute includes several complete performances.
The German native's weirdness makes David Bowie (a Nomi admirer) look like Josh Groban, and the movie honors that by indulging in its own brand of effective strangeness.
Andrew Horn's film charts Nomi's remarkable rise, his brief cult fame and his untimely flameout in 1983 as one of the arts community's earliest AIDS fatalities.
Chronicles the short and haunting life of Klaus Sperber, a trained classical singer from Essen, Germany, who came to New York as a young man in the late 1970's.
A vivid portrait, not only of the man, but of an era, an era in which creativity ruled in a New York which, for all its vicissitudes, was far more welcoming to artists than it is now.
Andrew Horn compellingly chronicles Ziggy-Stardust-cum-Dieter avant-gardist Klaus Nomis ability to tap into a missing link in the New York music scene.
Like most cult bios, this barely skims its subject's private life. Fortunately, there are copious clips of Nomi's mesmerizing performances.
On the one hand, this is standard-issue autobio documentary filmmaking; on the other, with Klaus Nomi as the focus of our attention, all conventional notions (and notions of convention) are altogether burned away.
Made with considerable wit and style, Horn's thoughtful celebration of the era and its most uncanny diva could function as the show's supplement.
This film expertly captures the scenesters' singular, blinding devotion to art at all costs, as well as their playful and communal attitudes.
Un documentaire qui rend justice à un personnage fascinant, mais dont on aurait tout de même voulu en savoir davantage
The Nomi Song is pieced together from photos, performance footage, and talking-head interviews, but director Andew Horn has taken great care to fashion a strong story arc.
A well-made doc of a beyond-description music act that combined cabaret, operatic falsetto, and the stark minimalism of a cheesy 1940 sci-fi pic.
Horn, who knew Nomi, does an excellent job of evoking the exhilaratingly hedonistic period the film covers as well as the long shadow that the coming of AIDS casts over it.
[S]trange and fascinating ... gives off a rich whiff of the New York punk bohemia of the late 1970s and early '80s.
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