Review of Frida (2002) by Jorge R — 25 Aug 2008

Absolute eye candy! The first thing and the best thing you notice about this film is the beauty. Julie Taymor (The Lion King Broadway play, Titus, Across the Universe) directs this with a keen cinematic eye together with the very gifted DP Rodrigo Prieto (also shot Amores Perros and 8 Mile).

The film begins at a frenetic pace as we meet a young Frida and we go through her early years, which culminates to the life-changing bus accident that near crippled her. Its ironic that the accident that essentially birthed the drama of Frida's life as a painter seems to end the dramatic momentum of the film.

The visual grandeur of the film peaks early in the accident sequence. Its so wonderfully realized that the film doesn't seem to know where to go afterwards. Once Frida starts painting the film begins to meander eventually choosing a direction akin to soap opera.

The problem isn't that Frida begins painting. Art isn't inherently uncinematic the way writing tends to be onscreen (see Pollack for example). In fact, Taymor does incorporate visual motifs from Frida's art into production.

The problem is that the script begins to focus entirely on one thing: Frida's lovelife. Aside from her paintings, Frida is most famous for her lifelong romance with Diego Rivera. Once she falls in love with him, the entire film seems to exist only to serve him - the script zeroes in on this relationship to the exclusion of all else.

Bio-pics as a genre have shapeless dramatic elements that only the smartest filmmakers can get around. They're dull by their very nature because the protagonist must go through event after event after event in short succession.

There's no clear narrative journey or arc. The quickest way out of this is sharp screenwriting and moving performances. Both are unfortunately in short supply here. Though Hayek and Molina are well cast in their roles, they lack passion.

I felt the most interesting characters were the people on the sidelines like Valeria Golino. Anyway, the film's saving grace is its visuals, which are beautiful enough that you can turn off the sound and just watch the film.