After watching Nico 1988 I was rather amazed the reviews it got.
As bio-pics hardly ever manage to show the portrayed convincingly I was skeptical from the start and rightly so.
Biopics seldom catch the talent/charisma of the artist. How can they? In Behind The Candelabra Michael Malden portrayed Liberace as a camp gay, in the end simply being a hetero playing a gay, in a corny way. Not for one minute he managed to show why Liberace made it so big. But then there is a difference between a Malden and a Liberace. I think Tina Turner's: What's Love Got To Do With It, was one of the few rock-movies that succeeded in creating a spellbinding story. The makers of the Francis Bacon movie: Love Is The Devil, were not allowed to use his art and found a innovative solution by distorting shots to create the feeling of Bacon's paintings. I wonder how Nico 1988 would have worked without Nico's music...
The good side of the movie is that it is not the regular rock 'n roll script of rise to fame, followed by the usual downfall. In this film Nico is heroine junkie from the start. And looks it. Nico was an enigma, a tough character, which the addiction forced her to be, I guess. I anticipated the fact that Trine Dyrholm would not look like Nico. A beautiful model in younger years, she still kept her unusual face and appearance, being described as cold, distant and graceful. Trine Dyrholm looks are plain common. The few moments I got the feeling of watching Nico was when she was filmed from behind. But that is not Dyrholm fault.
The storyline however is interesting, following Nico drifting through the last two years if her life and coping with bad musicians. But this brings us to the second hick up: Why was the band in the film so Velvet Underground alike? Ramming on guitars, simple drumming and violin on top of that? She worked with many musicians and watching live footage through the years with different line-ups remains fascinating, because every time her songs sounded new. John Cale (Verlvet Underground violinist) said he told Nico to make every concert like an art-performance.
Then we come to a real problem: Trine Dyrholm voice hasn't anything to do with Nico's spelbinding voice. Dyrholm is unable to reach the low notes and works round this problem, rather unconvincingly. Alas Trine Dyrholm's voice is a common as her looks. I saw Nico perform several times mid 80's. Expecting an hour and a half dark voice and harmonium I was blown away by the powerful back-up she had. James Young, keyboards, played for a long time with her and he wrote the book: The End/Song You Don't Hear On The Radio, about life on the road with a junkie, which gives an interesting inside look in what that was about: good and bad. But when Trine Dyrholm really gets it going during an East European concert performing My Heart iIs Empty as a energetic punk singer! it does become downright ludicrous. When Nico went into the groove she rocked slightly, conform her reserved image.
There are interesting moments in the movie, but I would advise you to read Young's book and listen (and watch) the real Nico.
Biopics seldom catch the talent/charisma of the artist. How can they? In Behind The Candelabra Michael Malden portrayed Liberace as a camp gay, in the end simply being a hetero playing a gay, in a corny way. Not for one minute he managed to show why Liberace made it so big. But then there is a difference between a Malden and a Liberace. I think Tina Turner's: What's Love Got To Do With It, was one of the few rock-movies that succeeded in creating a spellbinding story. The makers of the Francis Bacon movie: Love Is The Devil, were not allowed to use his art and found a innovative solution by distorting shots to create the feeling of Bacon's paintings. I wonder how Nico 1988 would have worked without Nico's music...
The good side of the movie is that it is not the regular rock 'n roll script of rise to fame, followed by the usual downfall. In this film Nico is heroine junkie from the start. And looks it. Nico was an enigma, a tough character, which the addiction forced her to be, I guess. I anticipated the fact that Trine Dyrholm would not look like Nico. A beautiful model in younger years, she still kept her unusual face and appearance, being described as cold, distant and graceful. Trine Dyrholm looks are plain common. The few moments I got the feeling of watching Nico was when she was filmed from behind. But that is not Dyrholm fault.
The storyline however is interesting, following Nico drifting through the last two years if her life and coping with bad musicians. But this brings us to the second hick up: Why was the band in the film so Velvet Underground alike? Ramming on guitars, simple drumming and violin on top of that? She worked with many musicians and watching live footage through the years with different line-ups remains fascinating, because every time her songs sounded new. John Cale (Verlvet Underground violinist) said he told Nico to make every concert like an art-performance.
Then we come to a real problem: Trine Dyrholm voice hasn't anything to do with Nico's spelbinding voice. Dyrholm is unable to reach the low notes and works round this problem, rather unconvincingly. Alas Trine Dyrholm's voice is a common as her looks. I saw Nico perform several times mid 80's. Expecting an hour and a half dark voice and harmonium I was blown away by the powerful back-up she had. James Young, keyboards, played for a long time with her and he wrote the book: The End/Song You Don't Hear On The Radio, about life on the road with a junkie, which gives an interesting inside look in what that was about: good and bad. But when Trine Dyrholm really gets it going during an East European concert performing My Heart iIs Empty as a energetic punk singer! it does become downright ludicrous. When Nico went into the groove she rocked slightly, conform her reserved image.
There are interesting moments in the movie, but I would advise you to read Young's book and listen (and watch) the real Nico.