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PIE
IN THE SKY
Hilarious film about another Factory
worker, Brigid Berlin
WARHOL
SPEAKS
Listen to Andy on painting, Walkmans
and Liza Minelli
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Commissioner's
Comment Nick
Fraser
Storyville Series Editor
Susan
Ofteringer's film is a grand instance of a contemporary genre: the
celebrity profile. But Ofteringer is interested in Nico because
of her specific status as a German icon.
Nico
was of course a hanger-on of Andy Warhol, and the sombre tutelary
presence of the Velvet Underground. But her origins and private
life are just as interesting as the cultish persona she created
for herself. It turns out that she wasn't of aristocratic stock
despite her looks; her father was a German soldier killed on the
Eastern Front.
Bouts
of depression preceded a serious addiction to drugs. She was unable
to keep hold of either sexual partners, or her own children. In
the end she fetched up playing with a Manchester band, which seems
from the film to be an ending she would have expected, and might
even have desired.
The
great thing about Nico Icon is that it strikes no moralistic attitudes.
It is entirely wide eyed in its dissection of the contemporary cult
of celebrity.
A
brilliant film that is shown on Storyville for the first time in
Britain.
