Rating: 
Summary: Two Artists of Passion
Review: Getting a film on the screen depicting the fascinating life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo had been a long time labor of love of Vera Cruz born Salma Hayek which reached fruition, enabling her to succeed in putting the story on the screen after efforts by Madonna and Jennifer Lopez to put together projects on Kahlo failed.Hayek stars in the film and produces. Determined to see that an empathic women's touch was maintained, she acquired Julie Taymor, who had directed "Titus" on screen and "The Lion King" on Broadway, to work with her. Hayek closely resembles the famous Mexican artist and delivers a gusto performance capturing her zest for life and overwhelming passion. Shortly after the film commences the pivotal moment of Kahlo's life which influences what occurs thereafter is shown. She is riding in a trolley in Mexico City when the vehicle spins out of control and she is painfully impaled on a steel bar. After hovering between life and death the determined, courageous Kahlo endures. The rest of her life finds her experiencing acute pain. If anything, it only increases her determination to develop her painting talent all the more, using her creativity to help block out pain. In early career, as she seeks to pursue greatness with brush and easel, Hayek as Kahlo meets the man she will marry and interact with the rest of her life, tempestuous painter Diego Rivera, played by Alfred Molina, who quickly becomes impressed with her skills. Even though he drives her to helpless rage through frequently infidelity, she realizes that creatively and temperamentally they are suited in many ways to one another. Kahlo's bisexuality is brought out early in a fascinating scene in which American libertine Ashley Judd announces that she will dance with whomever can consume the largest amount of tequila. Molina and Antonio Banderas, after arguing about the merits of Stalin and Trotsky, do battle. They are both astonished to see Hayek outdrink them both, after which she dances with sensuous gusto with Judd. A celebrated affair of Kahlo's life, which occurred in the early forties with Russian political exile Leon Trotsky, who was being pursued by Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin, is revealed. After Trotsky leaves the protected sanctuary in Mexico City and the temporary safety afforded by the constant guards posted by admirer Rivera, he is shortly therafter assassinated by an axe attack while he works on his critical biography of Stalin and the Russian Communist movement. While the political commitment to Communism on the part of Kahlo and Rivera is brought out in the script, it is done so tangentially rather than explored definitively. It would have helped to demonstrate the compelling reasons behind the strong beliefs of both painters. The acute poverty of the people could have been dramatically linked to their art and political commitment. Instead, in an endeavor to cover as much of Frida's colorful life as possible, many of the scenes were revealed in briefer vignette form. One dramatic clash was revealed between Communist Rivera and wealthy benefactor Nelson Rockefeller, played by Hayek's boyfriend Edward Norton, when the painter's commission to prepare a mural on the walls of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan was cancelled when the multimillionaire opposed Rivera's proletarian art. A high point of the film was the passionate Latin musical score of Eliot Goldenthal. His fine effort resulted in the film's lone Golden Globe award. Hayek was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama, an award which went to Nicole Kidman for "The Hours."
Rating: 
Summary: Visual masterpiece!
Review: It has been a long time since I have viewed a movie with such powerful visual texture and sensual emotion as to compare with this masterpiece. Salma Hayek should be applauded for her perserverance in getting this movie made as well as her incredible performance. Julie Taymor's touch was evident in her direction. I see movies for visual as well as emotional stimulation and this definitely suceeded. I have been a fan of Frida Kahlo's work for many years and this only added to my intrigue with the artist. This appreciation now extends to Salma Hayek.
Rating:
Summary: Splendid Cinematic Biography of Frida Kahlo's Life
Review: Without question this is a splendid artistic triumph for director Julie Taymor and actors Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina. Taymor tells a riveting saga about Frida Kahlo and her life, that seems faithful to those familiar with the artist's biography. At the core of the tale is the love affair between Kahlo (Hayek) and Diego Rivera (Molina), Mexico's greatest muralist of the 20th Century. The film sizzles when both actors appear together on screen. If there is a false note - even if it is true - it is Kahlo's bizarre, seemingly inexplicable love affair with Soviet emigre Leon Trotsky, which the film suggests was Kahlo's means of getting even with Rivera's excessive philandering. This is one of the best films I've seen about an artist, and surely the finest made in recent times.
Rating:
Summary: GILDED LADY !
Review: The Oscars should be very interesting this year - all those potential 'gender-bending kissing jokes' - "The Hours", "Far From Heaven" and now the brilliant "Frida". FRIDA is truly a love-letter from Julie Taymor / Salma Hayek and the sterling Cast ~ to Mexico and it's vital culture. A long-labor of love for Ms. Hayek - she's astounding as the complex artist Frida - a moving, sincere reflection of her passion for life. Equally stellar is Alfred Molina as Frida's errant but eternally loving husband Diego Rivea also Valeria Golina in the smaller but crucial role of Diego's 'earlier' wife - great cooking scene with Frida! Also at the Wedding! Julie Taymor gives the movie a distinctive, unique feeling - especially the transition sequences when Frida's paintings come to life - and the music? A Vibrant score by Eliott Goldenthal - the Tango sequence with Ms. Hayek and Ashley Judd 'out-does' the equally controversial Bertolucci {Dominique Sanda] tango from 'The Conformist'. Great cameos from Geoffrey Rush [almost unrecognizable]; Antonio Banderas, Edward Norton. Superb Costume design by Julie Weiss - nomination worthy! Cannot wait for the DVD release!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: A beautiful and fascinating film about a beautiful and fascinating woman. I loved it. Salma Hayek is superb, Alfred Molina is irresistible. ...
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment...
Review: There is much to admire about Julie Taymor's "Frida" -- lovely costumes, set design and art direction, a look at the Mexican art scene rarely depicted in today's movies -- but it is ultimately a disappointment, bland where it should be colorful. It purports to tell the story of Frida Kahlo (Selma Hayek) but really seems to tell the story of her love life, including her youthful love with Alex (played by Y Tu Mama Tambien's Diego Luna), protracted marriage to Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), and stomach turning affair with Russian politico Leon Trosky (Geoffrey Rush, in a truly ugly performance). The movie starts with a device employed by far too many biopics: its subject is near death, and the movie then flashes back on her early life, leading us back via a loop to her present near death state. Her girlhood is depicted as the daughter of a German Jewish emigree, her subsequent marriage to philandering Diego Rivera, their travels together to New York and eventual return to Mexico. There are oblique references to Kahlo's bisexuality, but these scenes seem oddly stiff and gratitious, as if everyone involved was uncomfortable doing them. I don't think this aspect of Kahlo's life was given a fair depiction. The movie spices up a bit when Leon Trodsky and wife appear seeking asylum from Stalin-occupied Russia. Frida engages in an affair with Trodsky that is truly repulsive -- the scenes between them turned my stomach. The movie hints at the fact that Kahlo did this to get back at the philandering Rivera, but that is yet another thing that turned me off the movie. I went to see "Frida" in the hopes that I would see the life of an artist, and instead I saw a movie about the love life of an artist. Overall, I was disappointed at this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Magical Realism
Review: Faced with the heavy burden of playing a National Treasure of her native country Mexico, Salma Hayek along with her director, Julie Taymor have come up with a magical, sensual film in "Frida."
Hayek's Frida is a woman with big dreams who is down-to-earth enough to figure out that bringing her dreams to fruition involves hard work and knowing the right people. When she realizes she might have talent as an Artist, she demands of Diego Rivera, the most famous of Mexican painters at the time, to know the truth: tell me if I am wasting my time painting, tell me the truth, she says. Rivera encourages her in her art and before long they become lovers, though Rivera is much older and a big mountain of a man prone to womanize, yet obviously in love with Frida.
The visuals are awe-inspiring, which comes as no surprise to anyone who knows Taymor's previous work in "Titus" and "The Lion King." But here, Taymor takes her vision one step further by bringing many of Frida's paintings to life by presenting them as tableaux vivantes.
Much is made of the political climate in Mexico at the time (1920's) and many famous people (Nelson Rockefeller, for one) are trotted out, but it is the relationship of Frida and Diego that is at the core of this film. Hayek and Alfred Molina as Diego Rivera are fascinating to watch and accomplish something that is very difficult: they make living, breathing, feeling human beings of these historical figures. Not an easy task.
"Frida" is as beautiful as a Kahlo painting, but more importantly there is an over-riding intelligence coupled with a voluptuous sensuality at work here that is hard not to appreciate and admire.
Rating:
Summary: A SHOCKING REVELATION
Review: In pain and suffering, in struggle and disgusts,
The wild painting's born of power and lust,
Of madness, love, desires, even dreams,
The colors burn and painting cries and screams,
Of tragedy of love and emptiness of dreams. The colors of her life inflicted by the pain,
The people so attached to wildness of fame,
Betrayal of the lust, the endless courting game,
In fiery of fumes induced by burning flame,
Of drugs and alcohol, of love to life and pain. I watched this shocking film deserving all the stars
But paintings looked at me - I saw the Frida's eyes.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good acting, way too long though
Review: Salma Hayek's resemblance to Frida Kahlo in this film was uncanny! She looked just like her, and did a great acting job. The cinematography was gorgeous, and the movie stayed very true to Frida's life. In fact, a little too true. I feel that this movie tried way to hard to make sure that everyone new Frida's ENTIRE life story. I don't think that we needed all that. There were about a 20 scenes that could have been cut out and it wouldn't have taken anything away from the movie. And what was with the gratuitous sex? Dont' get me wrong, I have no complaints there. But after Frida is crippled and old, randomly they cut to a lesbian scene with her and some stranger. What the hell? Anyway, see the movie if you know who the real Kahlo is and appreciate good cinematoghraphy. It can be kind of a bore if your not an artsy person.
Rating:
Summary: An expected surprise
Review: I had more reasons in not wanting to see it. For example: Salma would never have been my choice, not being a fan of biographies, bad response from painters and (trying-to-be) intelectuals. But still I was curious because I loved Titus and wanted to see what Julie Taymor was capable of. And I don't remember the last time I got so emocional watching a film, and objetivally speaking, it is a wonderful piece of art displaying not only history of Mexico but the great role of the artistic movement of the time in the history of art. Salma is great and has won my respect, the music and the photography is exceptional. Being mexican, I am thankful of this production because it will help the world to understand better this great culture.
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