Review of Frida (2002) by Cj N — 03 Jan 2009

While I think Hayek is too pretty to portray Kahlo it's easy enough to overlook given the nature of Hollywood... And you sort of get past the inital eye role, especially after you see her performance as she portrays her somewhat multifacetedly (though I think Frida herself was a bit more interesting and could have been done more justice, I think Hayek portrayed the image of her they were aiming for quite well), I saw more depth to Hayek's abilities in this film. I think this would appeal a bit more to people who know little of Kahlo, but I didn't find it too bothersome in spite of itself but you shouldn't expect this to be a faithful biography of Frida (and even less so of Diego, who was much more complex than seemed captured)... if you do, you'd be slightly disappointed (but also rather silly as it's a piece of art about art--besides it's successful as an interesting commentary on her). Also I really like the personification Hayek brought to the role, it captures at least a spirit of Frida I can really buy even if it's only a nod to Frida in some ways.

The bothersome parts are mostly minor (like Judd's "accent" is grating, music could have used subtitles to translate, etc) and it's pretty good for an indie art flick and I really liked her decision to make the art a backnote and the ways she incorporated it (especially the moment in the hospital when Diego finds it on her chest)--while sometimes believability was in question it still flowed pretty smoothly and worked well. The script could have stood being a little better but visually this film was fun and some interesting decisions were made. But I'm kinda over watered down stuff like this, even if they are done up pretty...

Side note: Can we please see a return of screenwriters who create good dialogue? Or even some screenplay editing? It's become an across the board problem with a lot of American films, but I think with more serious subject matters and/or indie films a strong script is more needed and the failing more noticeable...

(PS. I'm really not getting why Click is in the More Like This... LOL).