Movie Reviews

Initial Review (Sunday, January 5, 2003):

The best part was when the projector jammed and the film melted...

Second Review (Sunday, February 23, 2003):

Well, now that I've actually seen the whole movie, I guess it would be a good idea to write a proper review!

Frida is a biopic about about Mexico's most famous artist, Frida Kahlo (excellently portrayed by Selma Hayek). After being seriously injured in an automobile accident, and then wrapped into an imobilizing body cast, Frida has little else to do except paint on her cast, and later on an easle given to her by her father. Maybe because of the circumstances surrounding her first paintings, it seems to me that a lot of her subsequent works show almost surrealistic depictions of tragedy, pain, and suffering (mostly her own).

The film shows that Frida's life was full of some exceptionally happy moments, but also some horribly tragic ones (including the death of her child, the 'unfaithfulness' of her husband -- leading to their divorce -- and the assisination of her revolutionist friend, Leon Trotsky). The acting and the screenplay were so strong that, by the end, I felt that I'd really gotten to know and understand her. At its most basic but important level, the film certainly succeeds.

The screenplay also pays a lot of attention to Frida's husband, Diego Revera (played by Alfred Molina -- another excellent permormance). I guess that's because Frida did spend the majority of her life with him, and he was at least partially responsible for most the major events in her life. I walked away from the film feeling as though I knew almost as much about Diego as I did about Frida.

One last thing I want to comment on (I won't bother saying much about the directing and the cinematography, except that they're both excellent), is the many 'fantasy' sequences that are placed throughout the film. I won't bother explaining them, as that would be too difficult, but they're essentially small scenes that popped up now and then to illustrate in a very stylized and 'fantastical' manner the feelings and emotions Frida experiences.

Actually, I will say that a number of these sequences involve a still-frame of one of Frida's paintings suddenly 'coming to life' and blending into the 'reality' of the rest of the film. I love it when filmmakers take advantage of the capabilities of thier medium and do stuff like that.

If there's one problem I had with Frida it would be that it didn't focus enough on her art. Of course, Kahlo's art is a reflection of her life experiences (and the movie offers plenty on that subject), but the surrealistic character of many of her pieces made me want to know more about those pieces themselves, and why Kahlo portrayed certain things in certain ways.

But that's a minor complaint. Frida is a very good movie.