Kahlo no different than Dali
I read the Kahlo bio by Herrera before I saw the film because I knew nothing about Frida. I was surprised to discover a new surrealist painter that rivals anything by Salvador Dali.
That said, the film is a serious tribute to Frida and Diego, and Julie Taymor is cementing her place in cinema history with her richly beautiful pictures. There is so much art to consider! She has a dynamic style that you cannot look away from. If Agnes Varda is the godmother of the french new-wave, then Taymor is at least the high priestess of neo-classic art house cinema. She has me wrapped around her finger now, and a new film can't come soon enough.
What a woman! Taymor that is…
FRIDA finally made it to our community. Last night as I was leaving the theatre a friend asked me if I enjoyed the film. “I’m not sure that’s the right way to describe it,” I said, “but it was a very good film … What a tortured soul!”
My friend’s response: “But what a woman!”
Such praise could be appropriately applied to three women connected with this film. Selma Hayek is certainly mesmerizing as the title character, Frida Kahlo. She gives a powerful, sensual performance that stands toe to toe with Alfred Molina’s Diego Rivera. Another woman deserving the epithet is Frida Kahlo, the provocative surrealist painter whose character is explored. But with respect to this film I think the most remarkable woman was Julie Taymor whose directorial skill is everywhere. Taymor made a huge impact in the theatrical world with her amazing Broadway adaptation of THE LION KING. With FRIDA her production concept utilizes the tenants of surrealism’s (and Frida’s) rejection of normal standards. I love the frequent odd, but appropriate images such as the gold flecked visualization of Frida in the streetcar accident, and the use of the KING KONG parallels was superb as well.
The result was a film that gave us a strong sense of an extraordinary woman with immense talent. Frida comes across as a visionary who was able to overcome tremendouse obstacles, who was able to insert her powerful personality into her varied relationships, but who nonetheless endured as a tortured soul.
Taymor Sounds A Bit Like Ridley Scott
Not knowing Taymor, she sounds like Ridley Scott who has conviction and control in his movies. What else has she done? Does she have any history so one can compare her works to determine if she is making an own style or impression?
Taymor is relatively out of the gate...
Julie is known primarily as a theatre director. (The Lion King, Oedipus Rex) She has only directed one feature besides Frida: TITUS.
Titus should make any cineaste sit up and take notice. I don't have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe my admiration for THAT film. Just see it, dammit!
Re: Taymor is relatively out of the gate...
Quote:
Originally posted by Johann
Julie is known primarily as a theatre director. (The Lion King, Oedipus Rex) She has only directed one feature besides Frida: TITUS.
Titus should make any cineaste sit up and take notice. I don't have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe my admiration for THAT film. Just see it, dammit!
Frida has yet to be released in the UK, so as a fan of both Hayek and Kahlo (and the Quay brothers, come to think of it), I'm reserving my judgement.
But what a film Titus was! I've always detected a kernel of greatness in 'Titus Andronicus' that most people seem to deny, and Taymor teased it out expertly. Her anachronisms, I felt, were not just a case of showy postmodernism, but a genuine attempt to illuminate some of the murkier corners of Shakespeare's work that aren't immediately intelligible to somebody watching half a century or so later.