The Nomi Song

The Nomi Song (2004)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Andrew Horn

Starring: Klaus Nomi

From: Arte

Here’s a documentary that while not a part of The Criterion Collection I still was able to watch via Hulu Plus. It’s all about a rather strange yet intriguing character from the late 70’s and early 80’s, but before I get to talking about Klaus Nomi and the film, I have to mention that I first heard about it in ’04 when I went to a now defunct small-time theatre in Orlando (really, a room attached to a bar that had a projection screen) to see something else and I overheard the bartender there talking to another customer about this movie. But, I had never heard of Nomi before and as this was back before YouTube, I didn’t bother trying to find out more about him.

Then, a few years later, back when I had HDNet, I watched Urgh! A Music War, a cult music film filled with performances by many punk, reggae, and new wave bands of the time. Nomi performed there and I was captivated by the sight of a man wearing a black and white quasi tuxedo outfit with strange hair and white makeup with black lips. Besides his rather strange look, he happened to have a wide vocal range and could sing high-pitched like an opera singer. After watching that, I now wish I had seen that documentary. Now, thanks to Hulu, I finally was able to.

The film explained how the guy born as Klaus Sperber immigrated to New York and did various things there while starting up a musical career. He sang backup to David Bowie when he appeared on Saturday Night Live in ’79 and he did rather elaborate performances around New York after that until he became one of the first people of some renown to acquire AIDS and die due to complications of it back in ’83. When he did perform the songs were quite the odd blend of opera songs that matched his range, some original tunes, and covers that ranged from 60’s pop to Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead. As you can see, a one of a kind character.

As an aside, if you watch some videos of his songs on YouTube, you’ll see people comparing him to Lady Gaga, of all people. Me, I’ve always thought that some of her tunes were cool (especially considering that otherwise, a lot of Top 40 the past oh, 5 or 6 years, is pretty rancid; however, her last few singles sounding like rip-offs of earlier pop songs… not cool) but her entire persona… God-awful! Talk about forcing it and trying way too hard. Yet, of course a lot of people find it “fascinating” and “awesome” when I just roll my eyes at her stupid attempts at getting controversy, from meat dresses to whatever else she does that’s pure nonsense. In contrast, what Nomi did never came across as forced or trying too hard. Strange, yeah, but not attention-whore sort of fame-grabbing that you always get from the girl who lovingly calls her fans “little monsters”. Between the two, I’m choosing the German, for sure.

Anyhow, the documentary does a real nice job of explaining his life story and show how he went from a young German in Germany to a cult figure in the underground New York scene through interviews with people he knew, archival interviews with Klaus himself, and archival interviews with his family. And of course, there's old performances of him in the small clubs that you can watch. He didn’t hit it big right after he made it to New York, but once he did, he became a bizarre and memorable figure that even today is a well-known cult figure.

If the character and the movie sounds interesting to you, I recommend tracking it down. I'll be back on Memorial Day night, where I may review a movie that recently was released on the big screen.