Based on the biography Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera, Frida is a story about life of the surrealist Mexican painter and her relationship with the painter Diego Rivera that would span for many years through ups and downs. Directed by Julie Taymor and screenplay by Clancy Sigal, Diane Lake, Gregory Nava, and Anna Thomas, the film is an unconventional take on Kahlo’s life from the accident she suffered at the 18 that would plague her for the rest of her life to the people she would meet in her lifetime. Playing Kahlo is Salma Hayek while Alfred Molina would play her husband in Diego Rivera. Also starring Geoffrey Rush, Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Mia Maestro, Roger Rees, Diego Luna, Edward Norton, and Antonio Banderas. Frida is a lavish yet extraordinary film from Julie Taymor.
The film is an offbeat and surrealistic telling of the life of Frida Kahlo from the year she would be severely injured from a bus accident in 1922 that would plague her for the rest of her life to her final year of her life in 1954. During this time, she would meet the mural artist Diego Rivera whom she would be married to in 1929 and later remarry in 1940 after a one-year divorce where their marriage was a dysfunctional one due to his flings with other women and her bisexuality. It’s a film that plays more into the art of Kahlo and the events of her life that would drive her art as she would be appreciated as well as reviled for her art as well as views on politics due to her affiliation with Marxism as she would meet and have an affair with Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush).
Since Kahlo’s life was never a conventional one, a straight-forward bio-pic on the artist wouldn’t work as there’s so much to cover as the film’s screenplay sort of deviates from that schematics to play into moments of her life and relationship with Rivera. The first act of the story plays into the accident and Kahlo’s meeting with Rivera whom he would take Kahlo as a protégé only to become his new lover and wife in 1929. Yet, their relationship is a complicated one since Kahlo knows that Rivera likes to sleep with other women which Kahlo does begrudgingly accept since she is also promiscuous. Still, it would eventually cause trouble along with their own political affiliation with Marxism is put to the test in the film’s second act when Rivera is asked by Nelson Rockefeller (Edward Norton) to paint a mural at the Rockefeller Center which would get destroyed due to Rivera’s anti-capitalist views. A move that would leave Rivera returning to Mexico with his pride and ego wounded as his actions would cause a schism between him and Kahlo.
Despite all of the trials and tribulations that Kahlo and Rivera has, the latter is still loyal to the former despite his actions as he would support her from afar just as she would gain fame of her own. It plays into what Kahlo wants as an artist but all of the trappings of fame becomes fleeting where she later gets in trouble over her encounters with Trotsky which would prompt Rivera to come back to her life. Especially as her health would decline in the film’s third act where Rivera is willing to do whatever to get her back and be there for her.
Julie Taymor’s direction definitely plays to much of the surrealistic images that Kahlo creates in her paintings where it is filled with a sense of style as well as an extravagance that is off the wall. Especially as Taymor is playing to a sense of style which feels true to the world that Khalo lives in as she would shoot the film on location in Mexico in order to make the country as a character in the film that would influence Kahlo’s own work. Some of the paintings in the film that are Kahlo’s or re-creation of Kahlo’s work help tell the story into the events that would shape her life including own injury and her marriage as it’s expressed through her own art. Most notably the sequence of the bus accident that would be the cause of Kahlo’s life-suffering injury as it’s presented with an air of style from where the camera is at and the impact of its crash where it mirrors the painting that Kahlo would make later on in her life.
The direction also includes some unique elements of surrealism and humor such as a sequences where Kahlo and Rivera would each play into their own vices as well as the former’s interpretation of the latter’s taste for fame which includes a scene where she imagines Rivera as King Kong. Much of the direction includes some unique compositions in the simple and intimate moments where Taymor knows where to frame Kahlo as if she is recreating one of Kahlo’s paintings where its usage of close-ups and medium shots add to that sense of style. Even the use of wide shots in the scenes at Tenochtitlan at the pyramids where Kahlo shows Trotsky the sites as it displays Mexico at its most beautiful. Even in how Kahlo would view the country as her home which is exactly who she is no matter all of the riches and acclaim she would receive everywhere else. Overall, Taymor creates a very majestic and rapturous film about the life of one of the greatest painters in the 20th Century.
Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto does amazing work with the film‘s dazzling and colorful cinematography for many of the film‘s exterior settings in the day while using some unique dark shadings and lighting schemes for some of the film‘s daytime and nighttime interior scenes. Editor Francoise Bonnot does fantastic work with the editing as it‘s very stylish with its usage of jump-cuts, montages, and dissolves as it plays into the frenetic energy of Kahlo‘s art as well as in some of the dramatic moments in the film. Production designer Felipe Fernandez del Paso, with set decorator Hania Robledo and art director Bernardo Trujillo, does brilliant work with the look of the Kahlo family home where Frida lived with her family as well as the Rivera studio and other places in Mexico as well as the look of the New York City apartment where Rivera and Kahlo lived during Rivera‘s period working for Rockefeller.
Costume designer Julie Weiss does excellent work with the costumes to play into the look of the times as well as the clothes that Rivera wore as well as the dresses and suits that Kahlo would wear. Makeup artist Judy Chin and hairstylist Beatrice De Alba, with prosthetic makeup designer John E. Jackson, do incredible work with the makeup from the look of the unibrow of Kahlo‘s face as well as into the aging makeup of the characters throughout the years. Visual effects supervisors Jeremy Dawson and Dan Schrecker do superb work with the visual effects to play into the surreal look of Kahlo‘s paintings as they would come to life along with some strange sequences including a hospital scene that is full of macabre animation by Stephen and Timothy Quay. Sound designer Blake Leyh does terrific work with the film‘s sound to play into the atmosphere of some of the locations including the very chilling moment in the bus accident scene. The film’s music by Elliot Goldenthal is wonderful for its mixture of lush orchestral music with traditional Mexican music to play into the drama of the film while music supervisors Sarah Botstein and Kathy Nelson bring in a soundtrack filled with jazz and traditional Mexican music of those times.
The film’s marvelous cast includes some notable small appearances from Saffron Burrows as a British woman Kahlo seduces in New York City, Lila Downs as a tango singer at a party, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez as the surrealist Andre Breton, Diego Luna as a schoolmate of the young Kahlo in Alex, Patricia Reyes Spindola as Kahlo’s mother, and Valeria Golino as Rivera’s second wife Lupe Marin whom Kahlo would befriend and paint a portrait of her. Antonio Banderas is terrific in a small role as the artist David Alfaro Siqueiros whom Rivera would argue with over politics while Ashley Judd is wonderful as the Italian photographer/artist Tina Modotti. Roger Rees is superb as Kahlo’s father Guillermo is also an artist as he copes with the injury that his daughter suffered while encouraging her to become an artist. Mia Maestro is excellent as Kahlo’s loyal sister Cristina who would later become Rivera’s assistant as it would later cause trouble.
Edward Norton is fantastic as Nelson Rockefeller who asks Rivera to make a mural at the Rockefeller Center until he sees whom Rivera would put in the mural. Geoffrey Rush is brilliant as Leon Trotsky as the Marxist revolutionary who is granted political asylum in Mexico as he befriends Rivera and Kahlo while having an affair with Kahlo. Alfred Molina is amazing as Diego Rivera as this mural painter who is large both in look and in personality as he’s an artist that is big on ideas while displaying Marxist ideals to help the people yet is a total contradiction since he also likes to party with the rich and famous as Molina showcases a man that is flawed yet full of charm and humility. Finally, there’s Salma Hayek in an incredible performance as the titular character as she displays not just charm but also a person that is willing to make a name for herself on her own terms while displaying a sense of individuality as it’s definitely Hayek at her most lively in terms of humor and drama.
Frida is a phenomenal film from Julie Taymor that features a remarkable performance from Salma Hayek in the titular role. Along with a very strong supporting performance from Alfred Molina as well as a great look and an offbeat yet engaging script. It’s a film that doesn’t just tell the story of a great artist but also a person who deals with all of the trappings of fame as she is willing to not make compromises on who she is or where she came from. In the end, Frida is a dazzling film from Julie Taymor.
Julie Taymor Films: Titus (1999 film) - Across the Universe - The Tempest - The Auteurs #42: Julie Taymor
© thevoid99 2015
Based on the memoir Life Itself: A Memoir, Life Itself is a documentary about the life and works one of the most revered film critics of the 20th Century in Roger Ebert. Directed by Steve James, the film looks into Ebert’s career as a film critic that included his notable partnership with fellow critic Gene Siskel. The film also looks into the final months of Ebert’s life as he succumbed to the effects of thyroid cancer that eventually claimed him on April 4, 2013. Featuring appearances from filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Ramin Bahrani, and many others including Ebert’s widow Chaz. The result is one of the most moving and exhilarating portraits of one of cinema’s great voices.
There is probably no film critic, aside from Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris, who made a major impact for film criticism and film writing better than Roger Ebert in the second half of the 20th Century and in the early stages of the 21st Century. Yet, this film is about Ebert’s life not just a critic who championed films and filmmakers that a wide audience might’ve not known or heard of. It’s a film about the man himself who struggled with alcoholism until embracing sobriety in 1979 and the loving husband to his soul mate Chaz who would be there for him until the day he died. The film would move back and forth into Ebert’s life as a man and as a film critic but also in the final five months of his life as he was trying to recover from cancer that he had been battling for years as it would rob him of his voice and lower jaw.
Steve James’ direction is quite simple as he captures the final months of Ebert’s life as he spends that time in a hospital and rehab center while using his computer to talk and such. Chaz is a prominent figure in the film as she would comment everything as well as glimpse of Ebert’s step-children and grandchildren who were a major part of his life. Along with appearances from filmmakers like Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese, Gregory Nava, Ramin Bahrani (who would visit Ebert at the hospital), and Errol Morris who talked about Ebert’s importance in their work. There’s also interviews with friends and colleagues like film critics A.O. Scott and Richard Corliss as well as Gene Siskel’s widow Marlene.
Ebert’s relationship with Gene Siskel was a unique one where the two had very different personalities yet loved films as it was one of the reasons why their show At the Movies became so important to film criticism. Even as it helped expose smaller films while bring a different appeal that allowed a wide audience to see what they had to say. Martin Scorsese talks about their infamous review of The Color of Money which still hurts him to this day. There’s also the story about Richard Corliss taking criticism over Siskel and Ebert’s show as Corliss talks about that little feud. With David E. Simpson aiding James in the editing, the film showcases a lot of footage of the show including outtakes where Siskel and Ebert take jabs at each other but do it with a lot of love.
With help from cinematographer Dana Krupper, the film has a very simple yet vibrant look into the way James captures Ebert’s final months as he struggles with his rehab and regaining the ability to walk. James knows how not to infuse a lot of sentimentality to the film as there’s this mixture of humor and drama as well as the moment when Ebert dies. The film’s music by Joshua Abrams doesn’t drown things out as it is mostly low-key in its jazz music setting while the soundtrack also features some jazz music from the artists that Ebert loves as well as a poignant Leonard Cohen song that really says a lot about Ebert’s relationship with Chaz. Overall, James crafts a very delightful yet heartfelt film about a guy who loved a woman named Chaz, a guy named Gene, and cinema.
Life Itself is a magnificent film from Steve James about the life and work of Roger Ebert. The film isn’t just a very touching and engaging documentary about an influential film critic but a man who loved life no matter how hard it was in the final years of his life. Even as he gets testimonials from those he championed as well as colleagues who think of him as a brother. In the end, Life Itself is an incredibly moving and wondrous film from Steve James.
© thevoid99 2014
(Played at the Un Certain Regard Section at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival)
Directed by Gregory Nava and screenplay by Nava and Anna Thomas from a story by Nava, El Norte is the story of two young Guatemalan siblings who decide to flee the country during its civil war as they trek through Mexico to go to America. The film is an exploration of immigrants’ desire to go to America seeking the American Dream where they face realities that has them questioning about the myth of the American Dream. Starring Zaide Silvia Gutierrez and David Villalpando. El Norte is a superb yet heartbreaking film from Gregory Nava.
The film is the story about two siblings from a small Guatemalan village who decide to flee the country during its civil war in order to reach America that is often called El Norte. Yet, they would have to endure all sorts of things during their journey from Guatemala to Los Angeles as they had to adapt and do things where they would go through Mexico who look down on Guatemalans especially those of Indian descents forcing Enrique (David Villalpando) and his sister Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutierrez) to pretend to be Mexican. Upon their arrival to America in the most treacherous way, the siblings are forced to face harsh realities about the myth of the American Dream as well as the prejudice they face not just from Americans but Hispanic-Americans who are just as cruel with the exception of a few people the siblings meet along the way.
The screenplay by Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas is told in a traditional structure that plays into the trials and tribulations that Enrique and Rosa Xuncax face as the different locations they’re in also play to that structure. The first act is about their quaint lives in a Guatemalan village but not everything is great as their father (Ernesto Gomez Cruz) is a coffee picker who is trying to organize a rebellion against their cruel boss only for things to go wrong as the lives of the Xuncax family is destroyed. With the help of their godmother and an old family friend, the two flee to El Norte as they hear it’s a place where anyone can succeed. The film’s second act takes place in Mexico where the two had to pretend to be Mexicans by speaking Spanish in a very brash way while realizing that it’s a place where no one can be trusted with the exception of a man who is a friend of their godparents who would take them to America but in the most horrific means.
The film’s third act is about the moment they finally arrive in El Norte by going to Los Angeles where everything they had dreamed about turns out not to be real. Though things start out well at first where Enrique gets a job as a busboy at a very posh restaurant while Rosa cleans house with a woman named Nacha (Lupe Ontiveros). The fact that they both arrive to the country without documentations does add trouble where they face realities that is similar to the struggles they faced back at home making the story far more heartbreaking.
Gregory Nava’s direction is quite entrancing for the way he presents a world that is very different to an Anglo-American audience but very realistic to a Hispanic-American audience. Largely as it plays to the many differences of what is happening in Latin America where a lot of the shooting takes place in California and Mexico as it was impossible to make a film in Guatemala due to its ongoing civil war that began in 1960 and would eventually end in 1996. Still, there is something about Nava’s approach to the scenes set in Guatemala that is quite mesmerizing with its shots of the mountains, villages, and graveyards to play a world that is completely isolated from the more urban-based world. Yet, the fates of the Xuncax family would be marked by betrayal and scheming where it plays into that reality where they can’t trust anyone.
Nava’s direction in Mexico is looser as there’s some humor that occurs where Enrique would say “fuck” very often to adapt as if he was Mexican where was able to convince U.S. immigration officials that he and Rosa were Mexican. Still, there is an element of suspense that occurs including one of the most gruesome moments where Enrique and Rosa had to crawl into an old sewer tunnel that is filled with rats and such. While they arrive in America, they realize that there isn’t much difference between Los Angeles, Tijuana, and the small Guatemalan village of San Pedro in terms of the prejudices and realities that they face. While there are some sequences that play up to that sense of dream world as well as fantasy, it is often clashed with this very grim truth about the world. Though there is an air of sentimentality over the plight that the siblings face, there is truth to the struggle that they endure as it demystifies the idea of the American Dream. Overall, Nava creates a very compelling and engaging film about two people’s desire to find a good life.
Cinematographer James Glennon does amazing work with the film‘s very colorful and evocative cinematography to capture the beauty of the skylines and countryside locations to the grimy look of the city where there is this air of beauty and ugliness in the mix to play up the similarities of the different worlds the characters encounter. Editor Betsy Blankett Milicevic does brilliant work with the editing to not help structure the story but also create some interesting montages to play up some of the haunting moments of the film including the idea of fantasy for the characters. Production designer David Wasco does some excellent work with not just some of the look of the gravesite in the hills of San Pedro but the shabby houses of Tijuana and the drab apartment Enrique and Rosa live in once they arrive in Los Angeles.
Costume designer Hilary Wright does nice work with the costumes from the colorful clothing of the women in Guatemala to the more fashionable yet casual clothes that Rosa wears in Los Angeles. Sound designer Michael C. Moore and sound editor Greg Barbanell do fantastic work with the sound in not just the atmosphere of the locations but also the craziness of a world that is very chaotic. The film’s soundtrack consists largely a different mix of music ranging from folk to orchestral music that features contributions from Emil Richards, the Folkloristas, Linda O’Brien, and Malecio Martinez as it is an intoxicating and wonderful soundtrack to play up the plight of the characters.
The casting by Bob Morones, Toni Conchita-Rios, and Jean Gill is superb as it features some notable small roles from Jose Martin Ruano as the Guatemalan foreman, Alicia del Lago as Enrique and Rosa’s mother, Stella Quan as their godmother, Abel Franco as the man known as the Coyote who helps the two cross the border, Ernesto Gomez Cruz as Enrique and Rosa’s father, and Diane Cary as the woman who offers Enrique a big job in Chicago. Other memorable small roles include Enrique Castillo as a dishwasher Enrique befriends in Los Angeles while Tony Plana is very good as a slimy Chicano waiter who despises Enrique. Trinidad Silva is excellent as a landlord of sorts who gives Enrique some harsh truths about the way the world works while Lupe Ontiveros is fantastic as Nacha who helps Rosa out in adapting to the ways of American life.
The film’s best performances go to David Villalpando and Zaide Silvia Gutierrez in their respective roles as Enrique and Rosa Xuncax. Villalpando displays the role of a more determined young man eager to succeed where he would make some bad decisions. Gutierrez is more subdued as a woman who is a dreamer but also much more reserved as she deals with not just the harshness of her new surroundings but also the fact that the American Dream is really a myth.
El Norte is a remarkable film from Gregory Nava. While it is a film that can be very bleak over the circumstances the people face in this film, it is told with such care where it does have some idea of hope despite the realities the people face. It’s also a very telling film that doesn’t just reveal the struggles indigenous Latin Americans face but also the prejudice they endure from people of their own race no matter what country they’re in. In the end, El Norte is a marvelous film from Gregory Nava.
Gregory Nava Films: (The Confessions of Amans) - (A Time of Destiny) - (My Family) - (Selena) - (Why Do Fools Fall in Love?) - (Bordertown)
© thevoid99 2013
