Real lives are endlessly fascinating but impossible to really fathom. Books and movies and other forms of magic provide tidier glimpses. Such is the case with Julie Taymor's Frida (2002), a colorful "biopic" about Frida Kahlo, played by Salma Hayek. By the end of the film, one absorbs the basic rhythm of Kahlo's life, catches something of her vision, and indirectly witnesses her stormy relationship with Diego Rivera. Their time in Detroit is not covered directly, but it hardly matters. One gets the idea. Taymor is currently completing Across the Universe (2007), a fictional tale set in the 1960s that includes, reportedly, the Detroit Riots of 1967.
Another really good, edgy biopic is Stephen Hopkins' The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), based on Roger Lewis' biography. Geoffrey Rush is excellent in the lead role, with Charlize Theron well-suited to the role of Britt Ekland. Sellers, like Diego Rivera, was extremely talented yet monstrous in personal relationships. Pretty damned interesting stuff with some playfully innovative flourishes and entertaining soundtrack.
Caroline Trentini sees something other-worldly.
Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.
Birthdays: John Paul Jones, Frida Kahlo (Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón), Sebastian Cabot, Merv Griffin, Bill Haley, Janet Leigh (b. Jeanette Helen Morrison), Pat Paulsen, Della Reese (b. Delloreese Patricia Early), Dave Allen, Ned Beatty, Burt Ward (b. Bert John Gervis, Jr.), G.W. Bush, Sylvester Stallone, Nathalie Baye, Geoffrey Rush, 50 Cent, Caroline Trentini.
Ciao!
7 comments:
Someone needs to tell Sheila's boyfriend that I was RIGHT when I said that Frida and Diego were involved at some point.
I liked the Peter Sellers biopic quite a bit. Rush did a great job, and it had many things I didn't know.
Thanks for the tip on the Sellers bio-pic. I don't remember that at all. Time to hit the Netflix.
Frida is worth watching again. I really enjoyed it.
This piece although about bio-pics really telling about how society thinks that actors/artists are what we see on the big screen or the canvas. Not real people but the sum of the product of their work.
I knew that Frida and Rivera had particularly rough relationship during the 3 years it took him to do the mural in Detroit but to be honest I tink it was the storm of it that inspired and forced both of their work to be as good as it was.
Blandness produces blandness. I understand that their homes in Mexico were right next to each other because they couldn't stand to be jjoined at the hi and ach needed a place to get away from the other for a time.
Thanks all for the comments! Yeah, Mlle Cheri, they married each other in a crazy fit ;) The Sellers film is wild. Mark, true enough. But it's nice to see people's lives considered as a sort of art, conflicts, disasters and all. Johnny and June were not quite as in Walk the Line, but it's cool to think of them exactly that way.
Wow: Caroline Trentini was sure something! A prettier Siouxsie methinks.
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