{"id":5966,"date":"2018-09-07T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=5966"},"modified":"2018-09-07T11:00:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T18:00:08","slug":"review-nico-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=5966","title":{"rendered":"Review: NICO, 1988"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boosted by a searing, uncanny performance from Trine Dyrholm, \u201cNico, 1988\u201d is a telling time capsule.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"\"\"In 1988, singer Christa P\u00e4ffgen a.k.a Nico (played by Danish actress Dyrholm) embarked on her final tour. The once striking German model and rocker had deteriorated at age 49, but still retained her deep, emotive vocal sound. And the music comes across remarkably in writer\/director Susanna Nicchiarelli\u2019s unique mini-biopic. So too does the film convey the troublesome and tortured personality traits that led to Nico\u2019s decline. It\u2019s a rich, textured portrait.<\/p>\n

Chronicling events over the last year of Nico\u2019s life, we see her battling a nasty heroin addiction and struggling to make and perform music. The movie gives us a series of small concerts and the travel and conflict in between. By the time we meet her, Nico has had a rocky relationship with her son Ari (Sandor Funtek). The young man has followed his famous mother into the depths of drug addiction. While Nico understands her son, she without the necessary tools to save herself, let alone him.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNico, 1988\u201d works best when Dyrholm performs Nico\u2019s music. She has the vocal intonations down perfectly. And although I have nothing to judge this by, her characterization of Nico offstage is very special and seem like they\u2019d be accurate. The attitude, detached and emotionless, then irrational, the wild eyes, it is in keeping with my experiences with people who are stricken with addiction. But there\u2019s also a tenderness to the performance particularly when Nico interacts with her worried son.<\/p>\n

Presented in 4:3, an ratio that is now thought of as a retro aspect, cinematographer Crystel Fournier (\u201cGirlhood\u201d), places the camera almost exclusively on Dyrholm, every ugly wrinkle and track mark captured. The camera is calm when necessary, spending time with Nico, as she shoots up, argues with those around her, and records ambient sounds with a portable recorder she carries with her.<\/p>\n

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And when Nico takes the stage, Fournier\u2019s camera comes alive moving rhythmically with the music. Dyrholm\u2019s mimicry of Nico\u2019s guttural howl booms forth in one concert sequence as the camera moves as if commanded by the performer. It\u2019s bloody good work, cut together with archived concert footage of the real Nico.<\/p>\n

However, one question that is left unanswered by Nicchiarelli\u2019s film is what is Nico\u2019s legacy? She was survived by her son, but where does she sit in rock and roll history? This film feels very personal, focusing on the small dramatic issues, but if you\u2019re a fan and want to know about Nico\u2019s larger body of work, this film will leave you wanting.<\/p>\n

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It is important to note that I typically like biopics that focus closely on one event that shaped the subject. I\u2019m not sure that Nicchiarelli captures a single important event or even a couple of significant ones. Instead, she defines her subject in a very intimate way. We get an idiosyncratic feel for the character of the singer, if not what motivated her.<\/p>\n

None of the famous people that made up Nico\u2019s younger years makes an appearance in this narrative. Based on what we learn in this film, it is as if she was abandoned and left to succumb to her addiction. The sadness of Nico\u2019s situation is moving, especially when you hear and see the music performed in such a fine and astonishing way by Dyrholm. \u201cNico, 1988\u201d is a solid character piece about an enigmatic personality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trine Dryholm delivers an uncanny performance in very personal rock biopic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[759,760,761,50,762,763,764,765,766,767],"class_list":["post-5966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-759","tag-biopic","tag-crystel-fournier","tag-movie-review","tag-music","tag-nico","tag-sandor-funtek","tag-susanna-nicchiarelli","tag-trine-dyrholm","tag-velvet-underground","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}