| FRIDA |
 2002 - USADirector:
Julie Taymor - Reviewed by Vickie
Salma Hayek, who stars in the title role as Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, made this film her pet project for the past several years and her love for her subject is evident. Chronicling Kahlo's difficult life, the film features several big-name supporting players (Ashley Judd, Geoffrey Rush and one more I'll leave to surprise you), but centers on Frida's turbulent relationship with Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), revered Mexican muralist and rebellious political activist. Frida (the woman) is bold, daring, brash and unapologetic. She's sexy, sassy and savvy, and she makes no bones about who she is or what she believes in... regardless of what anyone else might think. And Hayek makes sure to wring as much as she can out of the role. However, Hayek and director Julie Taymor (Titus) want to make it clear that their film is *not* a "biopic." I'm not sure if that's because they feel the term has some derogatory, movie-of-the-week connotation, or because they want to make it clear the events they present on screen aren't 100% accurate. No idea. Either way, we'll just call it a drama about the tortured artist but one that, for me anyway, didn't live up to my admittedly lofty expectations. To her credit, Hayek does a solid job as Frida—much-ballyhooed unibrow and all. Alfred Molina is appropriately beefy as the (comparatively) hulking womanizer Rivera, and their relationship is sweetly painful, filled with infidelity, understanding and, of course, lots and lots of fire. Ashley Judd is in the film for a matter of minutes, which is a shame because she and Hayek actually have some chemistry together, and Geoffrey Rush is almost unrecognizable as Leon Trotsky. (Seriously, I kept thinking "Who IS that guy?!" until finally realizing his identity under the make-up.) Director Taymor, acclaimed for her work on Broadway's The Lion King, intersperses odd little animated vignettes throughout the film, sometimes involving dream-ish sequences and other times having Frida's paintings come to life, which add some variety to the proceedings but, for me, proved a little distracting. The film covers Kahlo's life from her teenage years to her death, and the filmmakers make sure to touch upon as many notable moments in Kahlo's life as possible. Yet, overall, it didn't suck me in. As I said, the movie was fine... not great, not awful, just fine... but given the nature of Kahlo's life and the extreme interest she's generated in recent years, I was kind of hoping for an extravaganza of sorts that would bowl me over. |
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I really wanted to love, love, LOVE this movie. I swear. But I didn't.
I liked it alright, just didn't love it.
