Saw Frida tonight. The story about the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (played by Salma Hayek) was directed by Broadway favorite Julie Taymor. Taymor of course is known for her amazing work on “The Lion King on Broadway“, and a film I thought was amazing to look at visually, but utterly wretched, Titus. Suffice it to say, I was not going into this film with high hopes.
I also didn’t know anything about Frida Kahlo, aside from a few paintings, and knowing that she had a relationship with Diego Rivera. The film was well paced, engaging, had a few beautifully shot sequences, and even had a bit of philiosophy shoved in there as well. (You can’t expect to avoid it when Trotsky is one of the characters in the film, and Rivera is pushing is socialist agenda!) The music (by Elliot Goldenthal) was heavy on the Latin edge, with a lot of guitars. There are even a few musical numbers in the film (singing at the bar, etc.) and those all show up on the album as well. It’s not as dark and brooding as his other works, but it’s still a fine effort. I’ll be interviewing him on Wednesday night, so that should be fun!