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"Frida"
is a somewhat satisfying yet not a very compelling film which
depicts the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. I was
expecting to be absorbed by the fascinating and complex artistic
motivations which drove Frida to paint the pictures which she did,
however most of the film becomes nothing more that a routine
melodrama with the romance between Frida and Diego Rivera, another
famous Mexican painter. What the film lacked about a true
original artist was showing us lots of paintings and the inspiration
behind them.
The
film starts out with Frida as a teenager. While riding a
trolley car with her boyfriend, a terrible accident ensues where
Frida is very badly hurt, breaking her back in several places as
well as being impaled with a rod. She survives but the healing
process is slow with Frida bedridden with a body cast for months on
end, with little hope to even being able to walk after she heals.
Frida begins to draw and paint while recuperating in her bed, many
of the drawings being of images of herself in pain. She
surprises everyone by soon walking and goes to get an opinion of her
paintings by Diego Rivera who is a famous painter. Eventually,
they become good friends, and then eventually lovers and finally
husband and wife. The rest of the film basically deals with
the ups and downs of their marriage, especially the numerous affairs
that Rivera has.
The
main problem with this film is that it fails to reflect the passion
and desire which motivated the images and themes of Frida's
paintings. We only see Frida draw and paint for precious
minutes during the film as the story wanted to concentrate so much
on the romance between the two main leads. There just wasn't
nearly enough showing of her products or discussions of them.
Maybe it was just me, but Salma Hayek failed to portray much of the
pain and anguish that Frida went thru after the accident and which
played such an important role in what she painted. Even though
in reality Frida was bedridden and in agonizing pain for a long
time, the film breezes thru this part like she had the flu or
something. A movie that is supposed to be about the life of a
famous artist should get into the techniques and motivations of the
art work, but the makers of this film thought it was much more
important to concentrate on the melodrama love life instead.
Having said all that, there is lots to be admired about this film.
Director Julie Taymor puts in several astonishing visual scenes
which brings the excitement to the movie. I wish there would
have been more scenes like these. Focusing more on Frida's art
work and her inspirations would have added so much more to this
film. Additionally, the film is filled with marvelous colors
and is gorgeous to look at.
As
for the acting, Alfred Molino is marvelous as the overweight and
womanizing Diego. He brings much charm to this role and makes
a somewhat dislikeable man into a funny and charming character.
While Hayek was not bad at playing Frida, she just wasn't able to
generate the true passion as an artist that this person had to be in
real life.
So,
this is not a bad movie but rather a disappointing one. In
comparison, I would recommend Pollock with a great performance by Ed
Harris as a film which truly shows the genius behind an artist and
what made that person an original. "Frida" only
gives us a glimpse of this.
-- Mike
( 2 out of 4 pops )
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