Paradise Theatre
A Little "Nomi" to Spark the Imagination
"That is the ultimate message of the New Wave:
if you just amass the courage that is necessary,
you can completely invent yourself.
You can be your own hero."
February 7, 2009
One of my favorite features about Netflix---besides its wide selection, convenience, quick turn-around times and reasonable price---is the suggestions it presents to me based on other movie selections I've made. In this way it's like having a good friend who knows what you like to watch and kindly suggests films to you based on your interests and inclinations...only that this friend has a wider range of movie knowledge than humanly possible. (so much for my second unpaid endorsement in this project). But in all genuineness, if it wasn't for this feature, some films I would never see.Such is the case withThe Nomi Song, a film that has mesmermized me this whole weekend. Actually, it's a documentary by one Andrew Horn. Informative and historical---especially in regards to the roots of the New Wave music movement---intriguing and tragic---on many levels, from creative invention to commercial recognition to personal relationships and perspectives in the backdrop of the avante garde music-performance scene, to that killer unknown at the time that would come to be recognized as AIDS...this film is ultimately inspirational...and a wonderful lesson in being human...if not especially exploring what it means to be human.All this thanks to the documentary's main character and subject matter...a humanoid by the name of Klaus Nomi (aka Klaus Sperber). As a Manitoid myself, I relate to this guy on a number of levels, especially in terms of artistic exploration-invention and real life "beyond the ordinary" character development. Nomi's life is a prime example of what this particular work of mine is all about. And I'll leave it at that to let this film and Nomi speak for themselves, as many thoughts and feelngs they provoke...the main one for me being that fine line between invention and discovery, especially in terms of character and who we are. More specifically I wonder this: as singular and new a character as Nomi was and is, he also seems to be a soul of old, or many old souls---an interesting amalgam of artist, Renaissance man, opera singer and performer...and then on top of all that, a soul from the future. A quote by Richard Hall at the end of the credit roll says it very very well, | ||||||
The Den
