Hey folks, Harry here... LATIN AICN has been covering the production of this film for what seems like years now... All the way back when there were competing productions, and now... Now Salma stands alone in the role (as it should be) This sounds pretty damn fine. Here ya go....
The Frida Kahlo biopic, starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina, and directed by Julie Taymor (Titus- Shakespeare, not the Fox TV show, you'd be surprised how many confused people were gathered at the screening) supposedly had its first-ever test screeing yesterday (Wednesday, 10/17) evening. With an in-depth report, we take you now to... me.
Frida Kahlo is best known by non-art people as the Mexican painter with the unibrow a la the baby who is Maggie Simpson's archenemy. She persevered through a terrible, crippling bus accident and a marriage to the famed muralist Diego Rivera, who, if you were a woman with a pulse, your virtue was in jeopardy.
This was the Kahlo project that pushed the J-Lo-attached project out of development, and I think the right actress won out. Salma plays Kahlo as a party monster, a drinker, a lover, a figher, an artist. It's a pretty big stretch of a role, but she does pretty good with it... possible Oscar nomination, more likely a Golden Globe. And speaking of Golden Globes, to paraphrase Jack Woltz in "The Godfather", let me be frank, to show you that it's not all dollars and cents... if you think she's hot, this movie does nothing to change your opinion, even with her sporting a unibrow. If you remember her dancing in "Dogma" and thought to yourself, nice, but what would really be cool would be if she danced without that pretty pink bra, well, starting saving your money now, if ya know what I mean.
Alfred Molina is great as Rivera. he's passionate, lusty, funny... in fact, there's a lot more humor in this film than you'd think, considering the subject matter. The set design is beautiful, and there's special effects included that you normally wouldn't expect in a biography that really enhance it. And this movie might do for Mexican mariachi-type music what "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" did for country roots music.
And now the minuses...
1) At about 2;30, it could use a little nip and tuck here and there, but it's the first screening, so we'll see what happens. It's not long so much as, to put it politely, leisurely.
2) Outside of Salma and Alfred, the rest of the cast as a rule are just well-paid wallpaper ("Look, honey, there's Ed Norton as Nelson Rockefeller... and Geoffrey Rush as Trotsky... and Antonio Bandereas as...as... did you catch that character's name?"), with the exception of Roger Rees as Frida's father.
3) The problem with biographies (as a rule and in my opinion) is if your life is interesting enough to deserve one, more often than not the script written is chock-full of exposition and lines of dialogue that no real human being would ever say, just to move the story on and to make a point within a given period of time. We kind of get the idea that the pain of her life is what allowed her, as an artist, to create such memorable work. We don't need to eavesdrop on Trotsky telling her that, pretty much word for word, on top of a Mexican pyramid, no less.
But why quibble? (Because we're fans and that's what we do here, right?) I really liked it, the people at the screening seemed to like it, and if art, biographies, intelligent/creative moviemaking and/or Salma Hyeck are among your particular cups of tea, you'll probably like it, too.
No names, please.
I'm Shy.
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