Salma Hayek and Ofelia Medina, as Frida Kahlo [2002, 1984]

Frida Kahlo is perhaps the most famous female painter from Latin America, not only for her extraordinary body of work, but also for the manner in which she overcame insurmountable odds and handicaps since childhood to live a life as colourful as her work itself. She is also associated with some historic men of her era, but she was almost forgotten outside Mexico until two remarkable films, significantly the later one that introduced her to the wider world, me included.

I've since learned more about Frida Kahlo and her work, and even recently through an interesting novel by Meaghan Delahunt called "In The Blue House", which charts Leon Trotsky's exile in Mexico, where he was a guest of Frida and Diego Rivera, her famous muralist husband.




Frida Kahlo in brief:
Born to a German Jewish father and Spanish-Amerindian mother, she was struck by polio as a child, which nevertheless didn't stop her from participating in sporting activities. But fate deals a serious blow when she has a horrendous accident while travelling in a bus, which renders her cripple for the rest of her life - this was even before she had decided to become a painter. But not only did she recover, she went on to become an accomplished painter, to the extent that even her husband, the famous Rivera opined she was more talented than him. Politically active, she was an ardent advocate of socialism and belonged to an elite circle of artists and thinkers, some of whom, apart from her husband included muralist Siqueiros, and Lenin's former colleague and founder of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky. She was also sexually independent, taking several men and women as lovers (including Trotsky) - both she and her husband led a rather bohemian lifestyle. But Mexico was at the heart of whatever she did - she had a strong connection with American Indian culture, which was reflected in her art and work. For more informed reading, I suggest along with the above novel, "The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait", and also this Wikipedia Link.




Frida [2002, Mexico, USA]
I will start with this film, which was my introduction to Frida Kahlo - the Academy award nominated 2002 film by Julie Taymour, "Frida", starring Salma Hayek in the titular role. And in a way it is also the best vehicle for discovering Frida Kahlo.

It focuses on her life in brief, her relationship with husband Diego, her travails and triumphs. This is a suitable introduction to those who don't know anything about Frida Kahlo - some details are skimmed past, but there's only so much you can fit into a film. The costumes, art direction and soundtrack is particularly superb in this production - they even won a couple of Oscars - even if I felt the soundtrack could have been more generous with the mariachi than tango. Nevertheless, Highly Recommended Viewing.
DVD Order Link




Compilation 1: from Julie Taymour's "Frida", 2002, Mexico, USA
Lucia Bravo, Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Ivana Sejenovich, Saffron Burrows, Mía Maestro, and Karine Plantadit-Bageot



Scene Guide:

• Young Frida and and her boyfriend sneak in to watch their idol Diego Rivera painting a nude with his model. Diego's wife Lupe (exquisitely played by the beautiful and sexy as ever Valeria Golino) drops by with lunch and asks why he's still with 'the whore' and throws the lunch at him. Diego is still hungry and now ready to eat 'female flesh wrapped in tortilla'..! The model is played by Lucia Bravo.
• Frida and her boyfriend get all worked up, the result is sixteen year old Frida losing her virginity - Frida of course, is played by Latin American icon Salma Hayek.
• After a horrible accident - I won't go into details - the plaster cast is removed from Frida - she is consoled by her sister Cristina.
• No nudity but sexy - Tina the hostess at a party offers to dance with the person who takes the biggest swig from the bottle. Frida upstages the men and demands Tina the dance. Tina is played by the very recognisable Ashley Judd.
• Frida with Diego for the first time - she displays her scars - he thinks they're perfect!
• Frida and Diego are now married - she's the one bringing him lunch these days - here she gives Diego a lesson in physics. The model is played by Ivana Sejenovich.
• No nudity but sexy - In New York, Frida has lunch with Gracie, who had become Diego's favourite during their stay. Frida shows that despite her husband's philandering, she gets along 'just fine'. Gracie is played by the even more recognisable Saffron Burrows.
• Caught in the act - Frida takes umbrage to Diego sleeping with her own sister Cristina - she had been posing as a model for him recently. Cristina is played by Argentinian born actress Mía Maestro.
• Frida is drawn to an exotic singer during her stay in Paris, and they end up in bed together in this sexy scene. The singer is played by the rather athletic Karine Plantadit-Bageot.
• A brief montage of Frida morphing into one of her artworks.

 

Frida, Naturaleza Viva [1984, Mexico]
Actress and activist Ofelia Medina commissioned Paul Leduc to make a feature on Frida Kahlo long before many people even knew about the painter. The film however is for those who already know a little bit about Frida Kahlo, because it is more of a montage of her life rather than a conventional biography. Most of the events are recollections of Frida as she lay in death bed, and are in a way more personal. But the casting of the main characters is simply superb - Ofelia Medina who plays the eponymous role, is Frida personified in both body and spirit.

I simply loved the way the film was made - exquisite soundtrack bursts into life in an otherwise silent film - there's barely any dialogue, and includes long takes, allowing us to reflect on the characters, European style. The film is very non-commercial - a huge risk in those days, but it paid off with some well deserved Ariel awards, setting up several careers in the right trajectory. Unfortunately the DVD I have is not a remastered version - I doubt if it had ever been, and therefore couldn't comment on the cinematography, but the direction and performances by the main cast is flawless. That's why, despite the average DVD quality, this film is Recommended Viewing.
DVD Order Link.




Compilation 2: from Paul Leduc's "Frida, Naturaleza Viva" [Eng. Title: Frida, Still Life], 1984, Mexico.
The scenes are essentially silent reflections from Frida's life and doesn't require a scene guide. Ofelia Medina plays Frida, and the popular singer-composer from 80's Cecilia Toussaint plays Frida's sister, Cristina.









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Irene Grazioli & Vanna Barba in "Mediterraneo" [1991, Italy]

Gabriele Salvatores' "Mediterraneo" won the Oscar for best foreign language film, along with a few David's too. While it is a charming feel-good comedy, I could think of at least five worthy ones from the year that were not even nominated.

The story centres around a platoon of incompetent Italian soldiers who get themselves marooned in a remote Aegean island off Greece during World War II, with no contact with outside world for over three years - a period that also foresaw, unbeknown to them the fall of Mussolini and Italy's switching of sides to the Allies. During the time, they settle among the Greek residents, some falling in love with local women, while some like the lieutenant take up their pre-war hobbies - he repaints damaged murals in the island's only church. They finally get rescued one day - but not all of them are willing to leave. The lieutenant returns to the island after several years to discover the former comrades who'd stayed behind have lived full lives there all along.

The film is beautifully made with some stunning locations and great music. It is also mildly witty but you won't find anything deep here. It also appears to be too sanitised a vision of those horrible times, and the soldiers hardly look like they've seen any action in battle. Recommended for those wanting some easy viewing. There's also a nice deal going on Amazon now for those interested.

Amazon DVD Link




Compilation: Irene Grazioli and Vanna Barba
The film also features some brief scenes of nudity - one of them in particular stands out.



Scene Guide:

• A local shepherd girl is drawn to Libero and Felice - brothers from the Italian platoon - and it appears they like to do things together, as we'll soon see. The girl is played by ragazza dolce Irene Grazioli. The brothers are supposed to be manning a watch post on the other side of the island and report back every few days. Meanwhile the sergeant draws up a rota for taking turns with local prostitute Vassilissa. He tells the others that they must also take shifts with the brothers who're holed up all alone on the other side. But the brothers are of course anything but lonely!
• Irene and the brothers go skinny dipping together - nice..!
• When it is Antonio's turn with Vassilissa, he notices her fast asleep and lets her be. He had also hopelessly fallen in love with the prostitute at first sight. Vassilissa is played by the nicely proportioned Greek actress Vanna Barba.
• He finally makes love to her after she asks him to - before that she talks about not remembering faces of any of the men who'd slept with her. Antonio and Vassilissa fall in love and even get married.

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Scenes from "Little Deaths" [2011 UK]

I'm not generally a great fan of gore/horror even if I do sit through the odd one just to discover its notoriety, and I admit not having too many expectations either when I opened the DVD of the British film "Little Deaths", a collection of three short films written and directed by different young directors. And boy was I pleasantly surprised - all three were of a particularly high standard for this genre, both in terms of performances and technical merits. All three pertain to sex and death. They manage to be shocking, and at the same time disturbingly sensual without going overboard with the blood and sex - a lot of it is implied, allowing us to construct the horror for ourselves - and the disturbing fact is we can't take our eyes off the screen. But the films are anything but sleazy - these guys' talents truly require some unearthing. I've not heard of any the directors or the cast, but they've done a commendable job with their apparently minimal budget.




1: House and Home
Written and directed by Sean Hogan. This is by far the more traditional 'slasher' of the three, using vampirism and forced bondage as its running theme. A well-to-do married couple keep their relationship going by indulging in dangerously deviant behaviour, by kidnapping homeless persons and having their way with them, and if they survive the ordeal, pay them off for their involuntary services. Richard brings home Sorrow, and drugs her so that he and wife Victoria could have some fun at her expense. Turns out it was a mistake, as Sorrow and her friends hadn't eaten for several days, and they too have been waiting for such an opportunity.




2. Mutant
Written and directed by Andrew Parkinson. A doctor prepares his own unique medication for drug addicts using sperm farmed from a caged mutant. Turns out that the medication has some undesirable side effects - apart from some psychic abilities, patients such as Jen become sex addicts, and also feel the mutant's thoughts. Add to this, not only does the mutant require a very special diet, if and when it dies (they usually do), it's productive organs can also be transplanted into human beings, to create a new mutant.




3. Bitch
In my view the best of the three, very well written and directed by Simon Rumley. Pete loves Claire very much, but the woman uses him as little more than a doormat, as a dog in fact, complete with his own kennel. She refuses to treat him as a normal boyfriend, having flings with anyone she fancies, but expecting him to be there when needed. An upset Pete on one occasion behaves like an 'untrained' dog, and is promptly admonished. Strangely, Claire also has a phobia of real dogs, and can't stand them in her vicinity (the film's title couldn't have been more loaded). But when Claire invites Pete's best friend and even has sex with him in Pete's presence, he considers it a step too far.

While all three films are shocking, they are also disturbingly kinky - in a manner all three dabble with BDSM themes, but the final film mixes it with horror intelligently and takes it to a different level. Even though this isn't my area of interest, this collection is Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link




Compilation: Siubhan Harrison, Holly Lucas, Jodie Jameson, and Kate Braithwaite
As it's a horror film, expect some unpleasantness in some of the scenes.



Scene Guide:

• From 'House and Home' - no nudity - Victoria refuses to entertain husband Richard - she wants something more interesting. Vic is played by sexy Siubhan Harrison.
• Poor Sorrow is drugged and tied up to the bed for Richard, and later Victoria to have their fun. Things don't go according to plan though. Sorrow is played by the enigmatic Holly Lucas.
• From 'Mutant' - Jen is trying to kick her drug habit, with some new medication and the support of her former pimp turned boyfriend, but the medication has also turned her into a sex addict, and accepts a customer from her new 'agency' without her boyfriend's knowledge. She later tells her doctor that she desperately wants a 'change' in her life - she sure gets it..! Jen is well played by Jodie Jameson.
• From 'Bitch' - a very well shot, directed, edited, and performed segment, where naughty Claire has her comeuppance in the most macabre way possible. By the way, the heated broth poured on her naked body by Pete is dog food. Claire is played by an otherwise cute and sexy Kate Braithwaite.

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Y Sa Lo in Fassbinder's "Die Dritte Generation" [1979 W.Germany]

When he made "Die Dritte Generation" [Eng. Title: The Third Generation], Rainer Werner Fassbinder was disillusioned with far-left politics - he was thought to have been marginally sympathetic towards organisations like the R.A.F at the beginning, but here he was, two years after their crackdown, taking a harsh and cynical look at misguided and vague ideologies of such revolutionaries.

Die Dritte Generation is an unusual Fassbinder in that it is shot in a style very different to his earlier films, highly original nevertheless. Many of the dialogues and scenes are intentionally overlapped with sound from radio/TV, or text quoted from press editorials and public urinals, some of which is to make a historical reference point, but some are merely used to mock and talk over the characters, who are not only incompetent, but also don't seem to have any firm convictions left. The film starts with a statement, "Dedicated to a true lover like no other - perhaps?", which while sounding innocuous, is provocative coming from Fassbinder (he's convinced there aren't any left, and doesn't spare innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire either). This lesser known but meticulously crafted gem of a dark comedy from Fassbinder is definitely one of his great films. The production values are excellent as usual, and includes one of his regulars, the beautiful Hanna Schygulla in the role of Susanne, one of the gang members and daughter in law of a police superintendent, and Fassbinder, apart from writing and directing, also handles the camera work. Needless to say, "Highly Recommended Viewing".

Here's a great value box-set, which includes this classic, along with some of his other films featured in the blog:
Amazon DVD Link.




Storyline:
"Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung" ("The World as Will and Representation", attributed to philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer) is the ironic codeword issued to activate a Berlin cell of a revolutionary wing - all the members had by then settled into benign middle-class existence. The film pokes fun at them as they ineptly seek targets and purpose. The father of one of the members also happens to be the police superintendent. But unbeknown to some of the members themselves, they are being funded by a multinational hi-tech company selling computers, as part of its marketing strategy. After a fall in terrorism levels, few companies wanted to invest in computer systems any more, and the company cynically uses the gang to engineer hi-profile hits to renew interest in its products. Add to this the ineptness of the gang and some misfits tagging along with them, a bundle of gags unfold in this unusual comedy about terrorism.




Compilation: Y Sa Lo and Bulle Ogier
The film also features some brief frontal nudity, thanks to one of its fringe characters - Ilse, a junkie who's taken refuge in one of the member's homes.



Scene Guide:

• No nudity but ironic scene where feminist gang member Hilde succumbs to the charms of newly arrived Paul. Hilde is played by cute French fräulein Bulle Ogier.
• Franz, recently released from the navy, comes looking for his girlfriend Ilse, a junkie who'd been given a room to stay in the rather benevolent gang member Rudolf's flat. Other members warn him that she'll only bring trouble, but he'd ignored them. Ilse is played by Y Sa Lo.
• Franz had brought along his friend Bernhard too, and Ilse asks Rudolf if they too could stay at the flat for a few days until they get themselves sorted. She asks this while buck naked in front of everyone, and Rudolf agrees.
• No nudity but funny scene as the Paul plays with his member watching TV while his host Hilde is busy consoling her friend Petra, who'd come crying after one of her fights with her husband. When Petra tells him all men are the same, he retorts, "of course, men will always be men, what do you expect!".
• Franz 'curing' Ilse from her addiction in the only way he knows..! But once he falls asleep she rummages through his things looking for cash to buy drugs. She finds some in Bernhard's bag, who gets upset and tells her that she only needed to ask. She runs around the house totally starkies in his funny scene.

Note: Of late I've been struggling to find time to keep the blog updated, not due to lack of new material (I've barely touched a third of my DVD collection to date) but work commitment.

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Fernanda Reto & Xochitl Marbach in "Crímenes de Pasión" [1995, Mexico]

OK the title says it all - "Crímenes de Pasión" [Eng. Title: Passionate Crimes] mustn't have required too much brainstorming from the film's production and marketing team - the film most probably was either a vehicle for someone's career/vanity, or simply an excuse to burn money - both probably. Suffice to say I'm actually embarrassed to admit that I even own this DVD. Mexicans live life to the extreme, and likewise their films also swing from the most profound to the mediocre (I'm struggling to find the right word).

Anyway, the film does include nude scenes from a couple of actresses, and I'm recording them here to save others the endurance of having to watch this excuse of a film.

Story in a nutshell - Gabriel, a mentally unstable actor, upon release from asylum falls for aspiring actress Julieta, and tries to help her win film roles - only, she doesn't fancy him one bit, and merely uses his connections for bettering her career. Her best friend Letícia, also an aspiring actress, uses a friend's uncle - a senator, to further her ambition. Both their interests clash at some point - crime ensues.




Compilation: Fernanda Reto and Xochitl Marbach
My apologies - I realised the quality of my deinterlacing was not up to scratch only upon finishing the compilation, but I really couldn't be bothered to redo the damn thing - watching the film once was tedious enough..!



Scene Guide:

• Letícia is determined to become famous - even if it requires sleeping with a politician, the uncle of her class mate and friend Mário. Letícia is played by the very watchable Fernanda Reto who later made a name for herself on TV and other B-movies.
• Julieta is the love-interest of our protagonist - he brings her home from a party drunk, and she 'falls asleep' before he could manage to 'seduce' her. Julieta is played by the exotically named Xochitl Marbach - never heard of her before, even if she does look tad familiar.
• Julieta prefers the young director of the ad film she worked on. What's it with aspiring actresses in the 90's - did they wear panties only occasionally - both these girls seem only too eager to please!
• Letícia's parents are worried she could be exploited, but she's a big girl now, and apparently knows what she's doing..!
• But Letícia soon gets fed-up of the old man and fools around with young Mário - the nephew, inviting trouble.
• No nudity but pubic hair peeking through white panties - Letícia had stolen her best friend Julieta's role in a film, thanks to her political connections. But Julieta had also seen her fooling around with Mário. He asks her to give up the competition to be on the safe side, but she tells him all's fair in show business.
• The director felt it necessary to show Julieta, upset at having lost her role in the film, crying in the nude.
• Uncle gets wind of Letíta's shenanigans with his nephew, and teaches her a lesson.
• Letícia later, ashamed, in the shower.

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