frida
There’s a Frida Kahlo exhibition coming to the Walker next month. I figured I’d pick this up at the library as half-assed research. It was acclaimed and bio-pics are big right now, so I figured it’d at least hold my attention. I can’t say it was as good as I wanted, but it was interesting. Selma’s gorgeous, and not exactly shy, so it was well rounded—in a way.
The story was pretty great, but it’s also based on a book that was based on her life. I imagine it’s difficult to screw something like that up. It was paced well and kept my interest throughout. I didn’t know anything about her beforehand except for her brilliance in symbolism, how she favored self portraits, and her eyebrow. It helped.
Only one thing tweaked me about the writing or screenplay or story. It happens a lot in foreign films that aren’t foreign. All of the dialogue is in english—maybe to avoid subtitles. And then they throw in a phrase in the language the film is set (in this case spanish). It’s just ridiculous. With everyone speaking english, the people from different countries are only distinguished by their accents.
Selma did a pretty good job with her portrayal. I don’t know what Frida was like, so I have nothing to base that on. It was believable and her acting was relatively good. The other actors did well also. Except maybe Ashley Judd, but I don’t like her much in anything, so I’m probably biased. It’s not that she’s a condescending bitch, even though she is, but rather that she’s overstated in her talent so consistently. Her shitty accent really killed any scene she was in.
The film got a lot of quality out of its production. The makeup was solid, the set and props and wardrobe held up, and the direction was entertaining. It tied in some sequences that were pretty surreal. There were transitions from paintings to live-action. They worked really well. Tying in her works really helped the story along as well as giving another visual element to play with.
All together it was a pretty good movie. It’s sort of boring in parts, but I expected as much. You really have to be in the mood for a low-key film to get into it. Selma’s breasts can only be on screen so often.
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