With his pale make-up, ethereal multi-octave voice capable of swooning
from opera to disco and all points inbetween, and marvelously outré
sense of style, Klaus Nomi was the kind of artist who was destined to
be forever ahead of his time. Appreciation came in small doses from
the occasional critic, collective of scenesters, and the French; it
took death and two decades of hindsight before the general public
could get any kind of perspective on this enigmatic figure, and even
now the Nomi legacy seems to be a footnote in too many other stories
of the 80s art-rock scene.
But some of this injustice is remedied with Palm Pictures' release of
the documentary The Nomi Song, which incorporates contemporary and
vintage interviews with live performances and a wide assortment of
ancillary materials, ranging from miniature recreations of stage
set-ups and costuming to an exploration of Nomi's lime tart recipe.
What strikes the viewer with the most force while watching Andrew
Horn's documentary is Nomi's mercurial artistic persona, taking
inspiration from the art world, traditional opera, Elvis, girl group
ditties, the avant-garde downtown club scene, the finest international
pastry chefs, and the hedonistic flush of disco while crafting
something that refused to be pigeonholed as any one of those things.
That innovation, we learn, proved a double-edged sword. Stymied by
commercial roadblocks but motivated by the occasional glorious
opportunity (performing with David Bowie on Saturday Night Live,
transcendent audience response to his performances), his career path
fits no traditional archetype, especially in this age of Behind The
Music.
This is not an uplifting experience for the viewer, though it would be
unfair to expect uplift from any honest assessment of the late
70s/early 80s art/club scene. When AIDS claimed Nomi's life, he was
one of the first to languish in its full horror, and hearing his
then-friends discuss their response to Nomi's illness is the kind of
unguarded melancholy that only good and insightful documentary work
can reveal.
Palm Pictures' DVD of The Nomi Song is typical of their work- good
authoring and an assortment of well-thought out extras. Dance fans
should dig the collection of audio remixes of Nomi tracks (Nomi
contemporary and interviewee Man Parrish's big room rework of "Total
Eclipse" is the most enjoyable), and pastry enthusiasts will dig on
Nomi's easy-to-follow tart recipe. One of the many bonus featurettes
details the doc's masterful miniature work, and it is a testament to
the quirky and endearing (and enduring) artistry of Klaus Nomi. Highly
recommended.
