THE NOMI SONG
unrated, 98 mins.

After Ziggy Stardust and before Antony and the Johnsons there was Klaus Nomi, a self-styled opera singing space alien who became one of the most colorful characters in an early-1980s new wave scene abounding with colorful characters. “The Nomi Song,” a film by Academy-Award-nominated director Andrew Horn, chronicles the artist’s unlikely rise to international cult fame and his untimely death of AIDS.

As a child in Germany, Klaus Sperberg idolized Maria Callas and Elvis Presley. As a teenager, he moved to Berlin to study music and work as an usher at the opera house. But it was not until he fell in with the misfit downtown art scene in New York City that he discovered a way to realize his vision of combining his childhood heroes. Assuming his alien name, Nomi, Klaus be came a rock ‘n’ roll video star before the full flourishing of MTV, crafting an outrageous visual identity that was at least as important to his success as his operatic falsetto.

His performances – seen here from the new wave vaudeville show at Irving Plaza, Max’s Kansas City, and the Mudd Club – were dazzling sci-fi pageants, replete with hypnotic parasols, multiple-Shiva arms, vinyl tuxedos, and saranwrapped sidemen. They earned him instant local acclaim, and eventually brought him to the attention of David Bowie, who asked him to perform on Saturday Night Live, and RCA Records, which released two albums by him.

But Nomi is at once an ideal documentary subject and an unattainable one. His character was a mask that he never took off, and one that the filmmaker is ultimately unable to penetrate. Mr. Horn works with what he has – the remembrances of bandmates, friends, and managers – but these interviews inevitably illuminate more about the ambitions, delusions, and fears of the New York downtown art scene on the verge of AIDS and obsolescence than they do the man at the center of the story.

– Martin Edlund

SWIMMING UPSTREAM
PG-13, 113 minutes

Like prior British sports pictures “Chariots of Fire” and “Billy Elliot,” “Swimming Upstream” tells the real-life story of a young, blond-haired lad who beats the odds at home to achieve success on the field. In this case, the hero is Tony Fingleton (Jesse Spencer); the field an Olympic-size swimming pool; and the setting 1950s Brisbane, Australia.

A thoughtful boy, Tony is pushed into swimming by his underachieving, dock working father (broodingly played by Geoffrey Rush), who pits him against his more athletic younger brother, John (Tim Draxl).The scenes alternate between nearly indistinguishable swim meets and moments of family strife. But even a terrifying suicide attempt by Tony’s mother (nicely realized by Judy Davis) is quickly resolved and serves simply as another opportunity for a heart-to-heart.

Shot on location in the working-class dockyards of Brisbane, “Swimming Upstream” shows a corner of the Commonwealth rarely seen on film. But Tony’s rise is as predictable as the rhythm of his backstroke – even if he swims to a somewhat unexpected ending, not at the Olympics but in a pool at Harvard.

– Derek John