When Frida was released into theatres I had absolutely no desire to see it. I'm neither a fan of Salma Hayek, biopics in general, and biopics about artists especially. Add to that my zero knowledge about the artist Frida herself and the movies fate was sealed into never being seen by the likes of me. However, my general lack of new movies here in France and being able to borrow it from a friend for free helped me to reconsider watching it. When I realized it was directed by Julie Taymor who also directed a marvelously beautiful version of Titus then I was actually excited by it (almost).
Like Titus, Frida is an amazingly visual movie. Taymor, who is known mainly for her Broadway adaptation of the Lion King, has an artists eye for visual flair. She has found away to take something as static as a painting and made it alive. Throughout the film she recreates several of Frida's works and makes them a part of the action. It's impossible to explain on paper (or cycberspace) but what she creates is something pure magic.
I can't say how accurately Frida is portrayed in this movie. The picture we get is of a rather flawed woman who lived with a great deal of suffering. Her suffering comes in both physical ways (stemming from an accident early in life) and emotionally (from a cheating husband and her own mistakes). Yet it is this suffering that creates such remarkable art. Taymor manages to create an interesting and moving story within her excellent images.
Both Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina pull out excellent performances. I was especially impressed with Molina portraying the very flawed and yet sympathetic Diega. I had pretty much written this actor after playing Doc Oc in the highly overrated Spiderman 2. But here he shows a real sensitivity to his character. Don't be fooled by the billing of this film. The cover of the DVD would have you believe that Ed Norton, Antonio Banderas, Ashley Judd and Geoffrey Rush all star in it. In fact, with the exception of Geoffrey Rush, all of them have more or less cameos in the picture. Rush is in the movie a bit more, but I wouldn't call even that a starring role.
Like Titus, Frida is an amazingly visual movie. Taymor, who is known mainly for her Broadway adaptation of the Lion King, has an artists eye for visual flair. She has found away to take something as static as a painting and made it alive. Throughout the film she recreates several of Frida's works and makes them a part of the action. It's impossible to explain on paper (or cycberspace) but what she creates is something pure magic.
I can't say how accurately Frida is portrayed in this movie. The picture we get is of a rather flawed woman who lived with a great deal of suffering. Her suffering comes in both physical ways (stemming from an accident early in life) and emotionally (from a cheating husband and her own mistakes). Yet it is this suffering that creates such remarkable art. Taymor manages to create an interesting and moving story within her excellent images.
Both Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina pull out excellent performances. I was especially impressed with Molina portraying the very flawed and yet sympathetic Diega. I had pretty much written this actor after playing Doc Oc in the highly overrated Spiderman 2. But here he shows a real sensitivity to his character. Don't be fooled by the billing of this film. The cover of the DVD would have you believe that Ed Norton, Antonio Banderas, Ashley Judd and Geoffrey Rush all star in it. In fact, with the exception of Geoffrey Rush, all of them have more or less cameos in the picture. Rush is in the movie a bit more, but I wouldn't call even that a starring role.