Frida (DVD)

Food for thought. Forget all the big guns rolled out for Oscars, because this quiet little film is so much better. Frida tells the story of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Born on July 6th, 1907, Frida was the daughter of a German Jewish immigrant and Mexican mother. The film begins with Frida as a somewhat rebellious schoolgirl (hanging out with the boys rather than the girls), as she spies painter Diego Rivera, commissioned to do a mural on one of the walls but instead frolicking with a nude model, and who will become a major part of her life. Later, when the bus she is travelling on crashes, Frida suffers serious injuries - a broken spinal column, collarbone and ...  Read the complete review

It must be said that no interior decorators would ever say that title about Frida Kahlo, the 20th Century Mexican artist. Her work, which can be seen to great effect through this movie, started out with bland, naive and nearly childish portraits, which were certainly not decorative, before she developed into second-rate Dali-isms and Magrittishness. But enough of that, how does this film of her life story fare? Really quite well, is the answer. We start at the end, as is so common these days - what might appear to be her death-bed rattling through the streets of her home town on the back of a pick-up truck. To find out why, we have to wait two hours, ...  Read the complete review

Frida is a film from 2003 that features Salma Hayek in the main role of Frida with a host of actors playing alongside her such as Alfred Molina, Ashley Judd and Antonio Banderas. The film is about the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo who is politically active, has a damaged spine after a horrific accident as a teenager and is a bi-sexual in a time (1920's-30s) and country (Mexico) when little more is expected of a woman than to make sure the dinner is on the table! Frida wants muralist Diego Rivera (Molina) to make her famous and he wants a new wife, initially they fall head over heels with each other but Diego's unfaithfulness is to catch him out and drive Frida ...  Read the complete review

Salma Hayek plays the lead role in this colourful arty portrait of the life of Frida Kahlo. She was involved with the project as a whole, trying to get it to the screen, which took over 7 whole years, and her commitment to it shows in her acting as well. “Frida” is the story of a Mexican girl who is crippled in a bus accident whilst a teenage girl, and overcomes all the odds, through extreme physical disability, and becomes a world-renowned artist. It is based on the real life story of Frida Kahlo, who, if you haven’t heard of her, produced vivid, distinctive paintings, which even if they were ...  Read the complete review

Salma Hayek spent a good eight years trying to get this biopic to our screens - it's been a regular in Coming Soon... lists for months, nay, years now. So it's a relief to see that she and her director, Julie Taymor, have made a good job of it! Yes, this is an artist biopic, so what narrative there is simply follows Frida as she matures as a woman, develops as an artist, and ages, as we all must. It must be said, she's more convincing as Frida the schoolgirl than as Frida the older woman (and though we're well aware that Frida is not meant to be a looker, there is a limit to how much Salma Hayek can "ugly up".) The ...  Read the complete review