Nico, 1988 (2017)

*Get the film on Amazon here*

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched the brilliant documentary “Nico Icon” a few years ago before I watched this because this simple, experimental biopic doesn’t live up to that documentary film.

The film kinda covers the last three years in the now washed-up model/singer's life as she tours with "amateur junkies" throughout Europe while nursing her own heroin addiction, and a troubled relationship with her son Ari (Sandor Funtek), the product of a tryst with famed actor Alain Delon.

Trine Dyrholm does a fantastic job as Nico, yet another cast-off of Andy Warhol’s Factory days (there were a lot of “superstars” who eventually lost their favored status with the artist), but the film bogs down with secondary characters who may or may not have existed. Nico (aka Christa) had an off-kilter presence, so telling her story in an off-kilter way renders her almost normal- something she could never be accused of. I don’t like having to do an internet search to fill in a film’s plotholes or missing facts. This is interesting but slight, considering the subject.

Stats:
(2017) 93 min. (* * *) out of five stars
-Written and Directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli
-Cast: Trine Dyrholm, John Gordon Sinclair, Anamaria Marinca, Sandor Funtek, Thomas Trabacchi, Karina Fernandez, Calvin Demba, Francesco Colella, John Dobrynine, Lucio Patane, Matt Patresi, Nico, Andy Warhol
(R)- Mild physical violence, mild gore, profanity, some sexual content, some sexual references, adult situations, very strong drug abuse, strong alcohol and tobacco use