The Nomi Song (2004)

The one thing that everyone can say about the film making genre is that there IS something for everyone. There should be NO argument - film making can entertain, it can educate, it can caution and it can enlighten. This is a documentary that touches a bit on all of those things.You didn't have to be a youngster like me in the 80's going to New York to 'club' to feel the sentimentality of this artist within this film. I wanted to know what happened to Klaus Nomi -- and here is where I found out. From the first moment I saw Klaus, I knew he was onto something special - something new that would be hard for record marketers to categorize but God bless him for picking through all of that and still managing to have an impact career and focus on 80's "New Wave".He was different, brilliant, talented and...strange. He and his artists/band did things no one else did back then - but you had to see it, be a part of to understand. Yes, I was a Nomi fan. I remember the "Saturday Night Live" appearance with David Bowie.By the time "Urgh - A Music War" came out, I thought that would have made him a household name --- and an entertainment star. I had no idea what happened to him, Now I do. A sad, tragic ending to something that seems to have gone rampid in the late 70's and 80's - overly wonderful, talented artists looking for love - and ending up in tragedy for the one thing that everyone should safely have.Told by the people who were around him and knew him best, this documentary on Klaus Nomi tells of a man with the highest castrato operatic voice to hit 'pop' and an artistry that was in the furthest corners of the imagination that made it to the club scenes of the early 80's. And let's be honest - it was all conceived in black and white in a very colorful world. A fiercely unapproachable man who could bake one minute and astound you the next. His vision, the songwriting of him and his other collaborators, we had 80's clubbing fun - and 80's tragedy.One of the better documentaries that captures the beginning of the 'New Wave' wave before MTV commercialism and the influx of non-talented folks and alleged female bands who could look great in front of a camera with studio folks starting them out and them learning to play later, here was the "real deal".A good history lesson in 80's music (and art) touching upon the back stabbers, the brink of success, the talented, the idealistic, the weird and bizarre, the hanger-ons, the work, the sacrifice, the seriously talented, and a cautionary tale as well.

The Nomi Song is a documentary I would recommend to everyone. It covers the life of Klaus Nomi, the late avant-garde, new wave singer. I knew nothing of Nomi or his life until watching the movie and now I'm fascinated with him. In a time when conformity was the key to success, Nomi challenged the odds. He lived his life the way he wanted. Music became him and it radiated off of him. You can't watch this movie and not feel the passion this man had. It's something so many people lose but it's the only thing that kept Nomi going. Anyone who has ever been touched by music will feel the struggles and triumphs Nomi faced. This film introduces a man that remains a mystery to the world over.

My husband and I were eagerly anticipating THE NOMI SONG, Andrew Horn's by-turns witty and poignant documentary about Klaus Nomi, the German singer/performance artist with the multi-octave range who took New York and then the world by storm for a brief, exciting period in the 1980s. Nomi, with his outer space alien persona, was so avant-garde even the avant-garde set wasn't quite sure what to make of him, but loved him all the same before his tragic death from AIDS (this was back when AIDS was still new and scary and known as "gay cancer"). Our 8-year-old daughter liked Nomi's "high, high voice" and kooky costumes. We adults liked the interviews with Ann Magnuson and other scene-makers from the era, as well as the chance to see such rarities as Nomi's performance with David Bowie on a 1979 SNL episode (which I remember seeing during its live broadcast back in the day). THE NOMI SONG also sports a treasure trove of DVD extras, including full-length musical performances, an Easter Egg feature for part-time pastry chef Nomi's lime tart recipe, and Lou Christie talking enthusiastically about Nomi's cover of his classic "Lightning Strikes Again" (Christie kinda starts talking about himself, too, but it's interesting and endearing). If you like 1980s New Wave music and all things offbeat, THE NOMI SONG is well worth seeking out!

Klaus Nomi was certainly an interesting character. Possessing a unique look and a phenomenal voice, he seemed poised for a measure of stardom during the early 1980s. Alas, Nomi was to be one of the first people of note to be struck down by AIDS.This documentary does a very credible job of not only giving us a glimpse into Klaus Nomi, but also giving us a look into the world of the "New Wave" in New York during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is replete with footage of Nomi in performance, showing off his truly bizarre look and his unbelievable singing voice (Nomi's performance of "The Cold Song," an arrangement of a piece by Henry Purcell, is one of the most beautifully haunting pieces of music I've ever heard).Andrew Horn does a very good job of interspersing interview footage and performance footage. He does, however, misstep in a couple of areas. The use of 1950s Sci-fi footage, used to augment Nomi's ruse of being from outer space, is overdone. Horn apparently feels the need to hammer this motif into the ground. More unusual is the use of paper mache cut-outs used to represent Nomi's aunt, seen as we hear her many comments throughout the film. It is a device as obscure in its intent as it is distracting and annoying in its effect.Overall, this is a good documentary with a pervasive sadness. We lost an amazing voice before it could be heard by the world. It is a well done portrait of a unique character, a colossal talent, and at heart, a lonely man with a sweet, sweet soul.