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MOVIES / ON DVD / NICO ICON
Nico Icon

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Nico Icon (1995)

83%
100%
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83 %
Reviews Counted: 12 Fresh: 10  Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 67 mins

Synopsis: This jarring profile of Warhol protege, Velvet Underground vocalist, and unrepentant lifelong heroin addict Nico (nee Christa Paffgen) gives an insider's look into the strange, tragic, but ultimately glamorous life of this 1960s icon. Nico moved from her native Germany to Paris,... This jarring profile of Warhol protege, Velvet Underground vocalist, and unrepentant lifelong heroin addict Nico (nee Christa Paffgen) gives an insider's look into the strange, tragic, but ultimately glamorous life of this 1960s icon. Nico moved from her native Germany to Paris, becoming a fashion model at age 16. Archival footage shows a glowingly beautiful Nico posing for Vogue and acting in television commercials. She even played a role in Federico Fellini's timeless 1960 film LA DOLCE VITA. However, as the film details, Nico slowly deteriorates in the New York City scene surrounding Andy Warhol and The Factory. Interviews by director Susanne Ofteringer with friends of Nico such as Paul Morrissey, Jackson Browne, and even her son Ari Boulonge (whose father is French New Wave actor Alain Delon), shed light on Nico's love affairs with Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Jim Morrison. However, what comes through most powerfully is Nico's downfall in New York City's underground, leading to her loss of beauty, disinterest in life, and eventually her mysterious 1988 death in relative obscurity in Ibiza. Footage of the icon herself is nothing short of dazzling, while the story of her life is as fascinating as it is harrowing. [More]

Genre: Education/General Interest

Starring: Andy Warhol, Viva, Lou Reed, John Cale, Jackson Browne

Director: Susanne Ofteringer
Screenwriter: Susanne Ofteringer
Producer: Annette Pisacane, Thomas Mertens

DVD Info

Release:

Mar 1, 2000

[DVD Details]

Reviews

 
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1 - 15 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
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4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/20/07
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
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3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/11/05
Craig Phillips
GreenCine
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3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/04/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
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N/A

That voyeuristic fascination with doomed glamour is one of the guilty pleasures of Susanne Ofteringer's utterly haunting documentary film, Nico Icon.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/20/03
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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3/5

Nico Icon is a powerful, often disturbing portrayal of a woman haunted by her elevation to icon status for little more than her physical attributes.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/05/02
Pat Kramer
Boxoffice Magazine
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02/14/01
Los Angeles Times
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N/A

Nico, the beautiful heroin-addicted, one-time model and actress turned pop singer, is a strange subject for a documentary. Director Susanne Ofteringer took the strangeness and ran with it.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barbara Shulgasser
San Francisco Examiner
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2.5/5

Catching a look at what took a gorgeous kid, full of life, into a rare freak show is certainly worth a look.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
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4/4

Nico-Icon is more than the investigation of a doomed celebrity: It's also a mirror reflecting her friends, her audience and pop culture.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle
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2.5/4

Though Nico Icon is replete with fascinating tidbits about the model-turned- singer's opinions and lovers, it does little to bring us understanding of the real person.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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01/01/00
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee
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4.5/5

Nico Icon tells us more than we ever knew about this pop star yet manages to leave the mysterious reflecting pool that will forever be Nico intact.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
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3/4

The movie has no moral or message, does not attempt to rehabilitate Nico as an anti-heroine, and finds mostly emptiness and sadness in her life. I have a feeling Nico would have enjoyed it.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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2/4

This picture is a mess. It never presents a compelling case of why we should care about Nico.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews
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