Frida Leider - A Vocal portrait

Thank Crunchie it's Frida

Advantages: A well-acted lesson in art history
Disadvantages: Some imbalance to pace; and the art was naff!

It must be said that no interior designers would ever say that title about Frida Kahlo, the 20th Century Mexican artist. Her work, which can be seen to great effect through this movie, started out with bland, naive and nearly childish portraits, which were certainly not decorative, before she developed into second-rate Dali-isms and Magrittishness. But enough of that, how does this film of her life story fare? Really quite well, is the answer. We start at the end, as is so common these days - what might appear to be her death-bed rattling through the streets of her home town on the back of a pick-up truck. To find out why, we have to wait two hours, as we first flash back to her youth in Mexico. After a couple of short scenes we have one of the most important episodes in Frida's life, a bus crash that left her with severe ...

theediscerning 04.03.2003 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Frida (DVD)

Definitive and echanting - Viva la Frida.

Advantages: Stimulating writing; packed with facts; expert art analysis
Disadvantages: Perhaps too lengthy for those uninterested in Frida Kahlo

Monobrowed and moustached Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has become a popular icon on an international level since the peak of her career in the 1940's. Arguably unknown to many until the release of the 2003 movie Frida which was inspired by Herrera's biography, Frida Kahlo's striking surrealist art and inspirational story deserve to be exposed to those in the dark in the most vidid way possible. This is where Hayden Herrera's definitive biography comes in. The book recounts Frida's life chronologically, in empathetic detail and insightfulness - not one stone was left unturned in the author's quest for knowledge. Not only do we learn of Frida's polio, the infamous bus accident that left her near dead and in perpetual pain, and her stormy marriage to muralist Diego Rivera, but we discover details of her own bisexual affairs (with among ...

amsterdamage 07.12.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera

The perfect portrait

Advantages: Fascinating story, evocative details, beautiful writing
Disadvantages: I didn't want it to end

"A Portrait of a Turkish Family" is an autobiographical work that tells the story of one Ottoman family from the turn of the twentieth century through the First World War and the establishment of Turkey as a republic. Irfan Orga was the eldest of three children; his mother was born into the harem - as were most women of such standing - and married at the age of thirteen. When the book opens, Irfan and his parents and younger brother live with his paternal grandparents and a host of servants. Orga describes an often idyllic childhood with warmth and humour, depicting the childlike vigour of his mother, the haughtiness of his grandmother and the kindness of the servants. One memorable episode describes a trip to the hamam (Turkish baths) with his mother and grandmother that is like a trip to the beach with the servants instructed to ...

fizzytom 06.02.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Portrait of a Turkish Family - Irfan Orga