Movie review - Frida

I finally got Jav to watch the movie Frida with me last week.  He doesn't really like Salma Hayek (I know, does he have a pulse?), so was very hesitant to watch it.  But I kept pushing and telling him that Albert Molina, who portrays Diego Rivera in the movie, really should have shared top billing with her.  He ended up really liking it (which I knew he would).  

Julie Taymor directed the movie.  I had seen pictures, moving and stills, of her work on the staged version of The Lion King, and thought her work was pretty amazing.  Then I watched Titus, an adaptation of the Shakespeare play with Anthony Hopkins, which she directed.  It was an extremely bloody movie, but the look of it was so cool I couldn't stop watching.  So when I heard she was directing the story of tortured artist Frida Kahlo, I was roped in from the beginning.  I love movies about tortured artists.  

This movie has it all.  The acting from both leads is top-notch.  You feel like you are really watching these two artists and what they went through and totally forget you are watching a movie, which means terrific acting in my book.  Hayek was nominated for best actress but did not win.  Molina was not nominated at all, which is a true crime.  I can't put into words how good his performance is.  If you liked him in Chocolate, with his understated performance of a passionate man trying to quell his passions because of what people might think, you will be shocked by this completely opposite performance.  Diego Rivera was a man who didn't quell anything he felt or wanted to say!  And Molina makes not just his lustiness for women, but his strong political views and artistic perspective seem larger than life.

The movie also has a great supporting cast, including Edward Norton, Ashley Judd and Geoffrey Rush in a scene-stealing performance as Leon Trotsky.  The music throughout the movie is also wonderful, especially the tango between Kahlo and Ashley Judd's character, Italian-born photographer and political activist Tina Modotti.  The original score and the makeup won Oscars.  I also love the symbolism throughout the movie and the scenes showing the viewer how certain moments in Kahlo's life led directly to her art.  You will be looking at a still painting and all of  a sudden it comes to life on the screen.  Very, very cool.