Frida
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Movie Reviews of Frida
Movie Review: Salma Hayek's Dream Came True!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen Frida five times at the cinemas, and got the DVD as a gift. I must say that this is by far the most visually stunning, inspirational, and emotionally impacting film I have ever seen. Before this movie came out, I went the Vancouver Art Gallery to see some of Frida Kahlo's paintings and saw the documentary of her life. I was very fascinated by several of paintings, but I didn't get to see The Two Fridas or the paintinngs with the monkeys. I was moved to tears by the documentary of her life, and I instantly became a fan. I then bought the novel based on her life, and read it before the movie came out. I was dying to see the movie.
This beautiful biopic is directed by the Julie Taymor, whose film Titus was an equally visual feast. It's a dream come true for the Oscar nominated Salma Hayek, who had spent more that seven years trying to get this movie made. It was a good thing that Madonna and Jennifer Lopez didn't get to do it, because they wouldn't be suitable to play Frida. Salma Hayek gave the performance of her career, and she actually hadn't done anything great before this movie, except for In The Times Of The Butterflies, which also costarred Mia Maestro who played her sister in both movies. Even though Salma lost the award to the overrated Nicole Kidman(The Hours), Frida still won two out of the six nominations. The music composed by Elliot Goldenthal trully capture the spirit of Frida and Mexico. Some of the songs are sung by Lila Downs, and Chavela Vargas. Burn It Blue heard at the end of the film is so beatiful. I even bought the soundtrack. Salma Hayek had more than fifty costumes here, designed by Julie Weiss on a shoestring budget. She made Hayek looked stunningly beautiful and striking, especially the photo shoot for the Paris Vogue cover, and the scene when she steps into her painting The Two Fridas.
This movie chronicles the life and times of Frida and Diego Rivera(played by the underrated Alfred Molina), a womanizing fellow artist, mentor, and husband. Frida had endured a great deal of physical, emotional, and spiritual pain, and she survived, because she was strong and self-absorbing, and she transcend her life's most unforgetable moments onto the cavas in the form of surrealism that's autobiographical. From the bus accident that left her crippled for life to her stormy marriage to Rivera, to miscarriage, to international stardom, to heartaches of failed marriage and distant from her parents, to betrayed by her sister....and then there's the self-destructive behaviours(alcohol addiction and promiscuous sex with men and women). Life without Diego was meaningless to her at times. She intensionally had an affair with Leon Trotsky(a Russian Communist in exile played Geoffrey Rush) to provoke or repay Diego for his infidelity. She still loved him even when they were separated for a period of time, leaving her financially and physically devastated, that's when she painted her best work including The Two Fridas, which was one of the high points in the film. The reconcilation and remarriage of Frida and Diego was a heartfelt experience.
The supporting cast are all superb. Alfred Molina was overlooked by the Oscar, he should've been nominated for best supporting actor, even though he doesn't look a whole lot like the actual Diego Rivera. I thought Valeria Golino was very good too. She played Diego's ex-wife, and she stole scene in this movie. Mia Maestro was great as Christina Kahlo, she was seduced by Diego to bed when she posed for his paintings. The affair broke Frida's heart. I also enjoyed Patricia Reyes Spindola's portrayal of Mrs. Kahlo. She was always negative about the choices Frida made in love and career. As for the big-star cameros which including Antonio Banderas(David Siqueiros), Ashley Judd(Tina Modotti), and Salma's ex-boyfriend Edward Norton(Nelson Rockefeller) who co-wrote the screenplay, I loved Judd's performance the most. Her sexy "lesbian" dance number with Salma Hayek was quite a treat.
Salma Hayek gave a mesmerizing and multi-layered performance, and she was in every scene. She trully transformed herself in all aspects of character and showed the world that she's not just a bombshell, but a great actress to be taken seriously. I cried during several scenes including the scene when she got dumped by her first boyfriend(Alejandro/Diego Luna). I was also moved a great deal by the miscarriage, and the scene when she was devastated and started to cut her hair and got very drunk. The most powerful scene was when she was drinking and crying while listening to an old lady(Chavela Vargas) sang a ballad to her, and she went home and stepped into her painting(The Two Fridas).The music, cinematography, acting, art direction, editing, and direction all worked together to achieve a very memorable experience. The special features has some very good materials included, and I really enjoyed the interviews on Julie Taymor, Salma Hayek, and the singers and composers.
I loved this movie and worship Frida. I admired her life's work as an artist, and her endurance of pain and struggles, and ultimately her relentless passion for love and creativity. I also collected the soundtrack, the Frida screenplay with photos of many of the scenes from the film, the postcard book, and a wall fabric drape painted with Frida and the Monkeys.
This movie is definitely a must-see for artist, art lover, fashion lover, music and cultural fans, and of course all Salma Hayek fans too!
Movie Review: "I hope the end is joyful-and I hope never to come back"
Summary: 5 Stars
The film gives a colourful rendition of Frida Kalho's life,played engagingly by Salma Hayek who physically resembles her.Diego Rivera("I paint what I see") is superbly played by Alfred Molina.Kalho's paintings now possibly are more famous than Rivera's mural works due to the inseparability of her life and work,her paintings are her biography.Born with the Revolutionary generation,we get the early meeting with Rivera in which she shows her paintings to the great muralist of revolutionary Mexico.Prior to this we get the early trolley crash that debilitates her for life,preventing her having children,and waging a life-long battle against pain,but giving her the time to paint.She specializes in portraits.Her work uses vibrant,beautiful colours.
Rivera,being a philanderer, marries her following 2 divorces,in 1929.Her pain and Diego both contribute causes of emotional trauma as well as being the sources of her art.Both artists shared a similar political viewpoint as communist militants.Kalho says she `suffered 2 grave accidents in my life.One in which a streetcar knocked me down...The other is Diego.'Her father is an Austrian Jew and photographer who wants her to get on and her mother is a traditional,pious, lady from a Spanish-Indian background.The film is shot in the "Blue"House where she was born in Coyoacan, and lived with Diego from 1929-1954.We see the parrots,monkeys,peacocks,dogs roaming the residence.Her love of nature is shown in her work,she suckles on the teat of an nanny with Aztec mask.Her self-portraits are replete with monkeys and parrots.Her mother is Mexico.Diego is her frog prince.
In 1932 Rivera was commissioned to paint a major series of murals for the Detroit Museum, and here Kahlo suffered a miscarriage. While recovering, she painted Miscarriage in Detroit, the first of her truly penetrating self-portraits. The style she evolved was entirely unlike that of her husband, being based on Mexican folk art and in particular on the small votive pictures known as retablos, which the pious dedicated in Mexican churches. Rivera's reaction to his wife's work was, however, both perceptive and generous: "Frida began work on a series of masterpieces which had no precedent in the history of art - paintings which exalted the feminine quality of truth, reality, cruelty and suffering. Never before had a woman put such agonized poetry on canvas as Frida did at this time in Detroit"
Rivera has exhibitions and work in America but the mural he did for Rockefeller in New York was destroyed because he would not remove the head of Lenin.Frida called it `Gringoland'and they are shown working back in Mexico City in the Casa Azul and San Angel studios.Frida is dressed in Tehuana costumes of Indian maidens.They both pursue affairs,he with her sister then with an actress.She with a singer or later after their remarriage with Trotsky(Rush)before he gets assassinated with an ice pick by a Soviet agent.She exhibits in Paris, wanting to be independent of Rivera.Her many operations are hinted at and her deteriorations(her toes then her leg gets amputated),wearing a steel corset.He was protective of his 'chicuita'.
Taymor, the director, creates atmosphere through the playing of Mexican folk songs, the animations of several of her paintings,shooting in the arcades and courtyards of municipal buildings and the ebb and flow of their love.She embodied alegria-lust for life and displayed an extrovert, black humour and sharp wit behind her unibrowed features,concealing her vulnerability and extreme sensitivity.Although a surrealist,her painting is realistic,down to earth,depicting real images in the most literal way.Her art interweaves fact and fantasy, both equally real.Her art is intensely personal, visionary about sensations,statements of mind and feelings of pain.Her only exhibition in Mexico comes before her death, when she is carried into the gallery.Rivera praises work'acid and tender,hard as steel and delicate and fine as a butterfly's wing,loveable as a beautiful smile,and profound and cruel as the bitterness of life'.They both thought each other was the better artist.He made the"Blue"House a museum after her death,dying 3 years later.
Movie Review: One of the contenders for my favourite movie..!
Summary: 5 Stars
...At least in this genre. It is the story of life itself. It is the story of triumph of humanity and a compelling example of basic human spirit in its true nature to be basically noble.
To this is added another of the many possible features of our humanity which exist seemingly almost randomly in humans- namely colorful, lively and spirited disposition, beauty and appreciation of beauty. It shows that the pain and misery of the reality which is human life is eventually worth living. And that is because life is beautiful and the world is a truly beautiful place not least because of this unique animal and its fallible humanity.
And it also shows that it is humanity itself which is solely able to understand this beauty especially/or those in the world of spirit (as Frida Kahlo is a great example). It has been able to catch the very spirit of a human being, a spirit which in its uncorrupted and virtuous form is common to all humanity. Perhaps thats the very meaning of it.
Finally, it is a proof of the fact that beauty is as much in the object beheld as it is in the beholder. (I believe 'beauty lies in the eye of the beholder' is a wrong philosophy, or at least half true, and such philosophies often come to be understood as negation of the other possibility as for example the above is a result of such popular ideas as relativism etc).
Frida Kahlo is a person who is broken inside and outside. She wields a broken body and a broken heart but she has an invincible spirit. She is beaten by the stick that is life only for her to love it more each and every time. In the final battle the spirit triumphs to which she testified as such:
In the last painting short while before she died she signed it Viva La Vida, translated approximately as Long live Life. In her diary her last words were "I hope the exit is joyful; and I hope never to return. This was a woman who was almost an atheist (father Jewish, mother devout Christian and husband atheist), a communist who supported Stalin passionately and helped him win some public support in Latin America, was highly impressed with Mao and was a Lesbian.
In short, she lived a highly impassioned, acutely aware and spirited and colorful life. Even though it was highly scandalous and sinful this was a kind of a rebellion of the spirit against the so called morality (morality for the sake of morality) and societal righteousness. Almost saintly yet so blasphemous!
To understand and fully appreciate the movie, the woman and the times; preliminary understanding of art is highly recommended though not necessary- more certainly would help. A sense of history and culture of the time and an interest in Latin history and culture especially would be of great use.
The acting of all cast is breathtaking especially of Salma Hayek, Alfred Molino and even that of small roles like Diegos first wifes and the Latino singers etc. Frida is primarily a musical with an extraordinary and heart rending music score comprised of much ethnic and folk music and a blend of beautiful modern songs. Finally the highest prize and the crown of the effort I think should go to the director who has done a tremendous and almost perfect job. Notice for example the different camera affects and color schemed employed. For example, Fridas silhouette almost always is strikingly colorful in the foreground compared to drab and almost colorless rest of the world. The movie has immense but subtle details.
I would highly recommend reading about Frida Kahlo and going through her art and biogrpahy. Her life is a real life Tolstoy or Jane Austin novel or even Shakespears play or Emily Dickinson poetry!
The wonderful tiring puzzle!
The merciless beautiful flower!
Viva La Vida!
Truly the movie itself is a work of great art. Two thumbs up.
P.S. some links and material about her I highly recommend.
check here on amazon, her diary at least and the PBS documentry on her is must. the browser is not allowing me to post the links
Movie Review: A GREAT (APPROPRIATELY) COLLECTIVE WORK
Summary: 5 Stars
Julie Taymor is in the driver's seat for this wonderful look at the life of Frida Kahlo, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century - but this is a collective effort in the truest sense of the term. Selma Hayek, who turns in what is very likely the performance of a lifetime as Kahlo, is listed as an executive producer - and the contributions of all involved in this masterful film are important and noteworthy. The cast and crew have managed to tell the story not only of the romance between Kahlo and the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, but also of a time and atmosphere that we will - sadly - unlikely see again.The Revolution in Russia - and the possibilities it presented for the working classes worldwide - lit a fire in the hearts of many, igniting hopes and passions for a better world. Each person touched by this flame saw it illuminate their life and their work in an individual way - and artists were certainly no exception. Diego Rivera's murals are legendary and timeless testaments to that passion. The passion that stirred between Rivera and Kahlo is a legend of its own - Frida knew full well before she even met Diego of his reputation as a womanizer. The love the blossomed between them drew them together despite - and very likely because of - the things that existed within each of them that, in many relationships, drive people apart.
Taymor's film uses incredibly beautiful - and moving - images to augment the live action. Many of these are taken from Kahlo's works - there are a couple of scenes in which one of Frida's paintings is transformed into live action, to wonderful effect - and some are completely original, created especially for the film. A couple of these latter scenes are based on traditional images from the Mexican Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and are chillingly effective - and not without humor.
The horrific accident which left Kahlo's body damaged for life certainly didn't kill her spirit - and it is this spirit, combined with the innate talent she possessed for turning her inner feelings into art, that make her work eternally relevant and inspiring. We all carry around pain inside of us that accumulates over the course of our lifetimes - Frida found a way to access that pain, to make it visible to others, to express it and process it. We could all learn a lot from her. Kahlo and her work should be more widely known - something that has begun to be corrected in the last couple of decades - and held up as a role model, not just for women and Hispanics, but also for human beings in general.
The DVD is loaded with extras (you can check out the list above) that make the viewing experience even richer - unlike some releases, where the viewer is left with the feeling of sorting through filler. The film itself is worth the price of the DVD - the extras just sweeten the deal. This is a labor of love - members of the excellent cast working for scale, as they did - and it shows.
Movie Review: "Acid and tender, hard as steel, fine as a butterfly's wing"
Summary: 5 Stars
Artist Frida Kahlo's paintings are a visual diary of her life--as a revolutionary, as the wife of Diego Rivera, and as a woman in constant pain. Injured in a bus accident as a young woman, she endured over thirty surgeries, unremitting physical agony, and injuries which left her unable to bear a child, but she also endured the pain of a notoriously unfaithful husband. As she once told him, "There were two big accidents in my life. You are the worst."
Salma Hayek, as Frida, is both tough and vulnerable, showing Frida's spontaneous, physical approach to life and her passionate dedication--to Diego, to her hard-edged paintings, and to communist philosophy. Alfred Molina, as Diego, a man who "belongs only to himself," is warm, funny, often protective, and utterly impossible as a husband. An established muralist with many commissions when he first meets her, he encourages her artistic goals, explaining, "I paint what I see--the world outside. You paint from your heart." Married, divorced, and later remarried, Frida and Diego, as we see them here, are both mutually supportive and mutually destructive.
Hayden Herrera's biography of Frida is the basis for the Clancy Sigal and Diane Lake screenplay, which emphasizes Frida's pain and her ways of dealing with it--through drink, her work, and through sex, with both women and men, including Leon Trotsky, in exile in Mexico. The settings from the 1920s and 1930s are brilliantly colorful--a bright blue house with a garden of peacocks, monkeys, and colored birds; the worksites of Rivera's passionate and brightly colored murals; and locations in Mexico City and New York. Lively Mexican music plays throughout, with new music (Elliot Goldenthall) inserted to unify scenes, the piano music being especially memorable. The cinematography (Roderigo Prieto) takes full advantage of the architecture and the color, which is enhanced by the vibrant clothing, jewelry, and hair adornments worn by Frida.
Director Julie Taymor features many of Frida's paintings, and some of Diego Rivera's murals throughout, using them to connect the artists' inner and outer worlds. On several occasions, however, there are jarring intrusions of cartoons and nightmares--people walk through a photograph, which shifts to black and white; King Kong in a film morphs into Diego Rivera; a trip to New York becomes a walk through travel brochures. Unfortunately, the style of these vignettes is so unexpected and foreign to the tone of this film that they feel intrusive, even arch. Hayek and Molina are outstanding in conveying the torment of Frida and Diego Rivera, however, and the film, overall, is a fascinating study of two artists living through the tumult of history and each other. Mary Whipple