MOVIE OF THE WEEK March 15, 2024: FRIDA
The art and experiences of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo come to vivid life in director Carla Gutierrez’s intimate documentary Frida. Told through creative animation, archival images, and first-hand accounts — with a particular emphasis on Kahlo’s own letters and diaries — the film brings viewers inside the mind and heart of one of the world’s most iconic modern artists, empathetically revealing her near-lifelong struggle with both self-criticism and chronic pain.
Frida takes viewers more or less chronologically through Kahlo’s life, starting with her boisterous early-1900s girlhood in Mexico City’s Coyoacán borough. She loved art and color as a child, but painting was a childhood hobby set aside for more serious academic pursuits — until a terrible bus accident left her seriously injured at 18. (She would suffer pain for the rest of her life.) Canvas, brushes, and paint kept her occupied during her long recovery, and creating art would ultimately become her creative passion.
Her other passion was fellow artist Diego Rivera, whom she met through the Mexican Communist Party in the late 1920s. Gutierrez deftly chronicles their tumultuous relationship, eventual break-up, and later reconciliation, always keeping the focus primarily on Frida and her thoughts and feelings. Fernanda Echevarria Del Rivero provides the voice-over for Kahlo’s written words, imbuing them with genuine emotion and conviction. It feels like we’re truly listening to Kahlo herself tell us her own story.
This feeling is bolstered by the many self-portraits included in the film and the way they’re brought to life through clever, strategic animation; vines branch out and retract, monkeys cluster around Kahlo, tears fall, and more. The deliberate way that Gutierrez (making her feature debut) and her crew use splashes and pops of color to brighten vintage black and white photos and film clips is also impressive. As Kahlo herself said, “joy is creation born of discovery” — and Frida discovers the joy in the artist’s often-difficult life by using her art to create a fresh take on her narrative — Betsy Bozdech
Team #MOTW’s comments:
Pam Grady: Veteran editor Carla Guitterez makes a striking directorial debut with this documentary focused on painter Frida Kahlo. A valuable primer for those unfamiliar with the artist and her work, the film is still compelling even for those who know her art and facts of her life well. Much of the strength of the film comes from the use of Kahlo’s diaries and letters allowing her to tell her own story through an actor’s voiceover, while other actors voice her muralist husband Diego Rivera and other key figures in her world. Employing photos, home movies, newsreel footage, and more, Guitterez builds a lively canvas on which Kahlo’s life unfurls but the film’s greatest images come from the artist’s own work, sometimes in lively animated sequences, which speak even more eloquently than Kahlo’s words.
Nell Minow: Frida Kahlo wanted us to see her. As sincere and appealing as the Salma Hayek and other versions of her story was, Frida did not want a Hollywood portrayal. If she had had access to the technology, this is the movie she would have made, her own words, beautifully performed, with archival footage, her art, sensitive re-imaginings, and gentle animated embellishments of her paintings.
Sherin Nicole It’s as though Frida Kahlo‘s illustrated diary alights off the shelves of a mystical library, and opens itself to immerse us in her story. Filled with animated paintings and sketches; coupled with love letters and lovers’ portraits; enlivened by footage and photographs: This is the Frida (2024) documentary. Binding it together are Frida’s written confessions—her heart is the inkwell, infusing the pages with copper and salt. Her blood and tears have spilled onto the screen. That must be how this documentary came to be. But we should ask director Carla Gutiérrez and the wondrous voice actress Fernanda Echevarría if that is indeed the ‘alchemistry.’ Read full review.
Nikki Fowler: We all know Frida Khalo’s story but you’ve never seen it quite like this. Through the eyes of Frida we are treated to this powerful and raw insight into the artist’s life in director/editor Carla Gutiérrez’s documentary, Frida. Carla’s editing is phenomenal as Khalo’s vibrant and colorful life, art and words dance across the screen like you’ve never seen before blooming the pure essence of the beloved artist from her very own diaries, notes, artwork and past interviews. No stone is unturned as we revisit Frida’s tragic childhood bus accident accident which followed her throughout life and riddled her with chronic pain to her struggles in her marriage with Diego Rivera bringing equally as painful heartache, to her lovers, her miscarriage and the sexism she endured from the global art world. The filmmakers were granted access to never before seen archives which gives viewers a beautiful up close and personal look into the life of one of the world’s most extraordinary artists who is a beacon for female empowerment. This film almost feels like you are sitting in conversation with the artist herself.
Leslie Combemale Gutièrrez has done great work here, not merely as a profile of an artist, but as a profile of a disabled, queer artist who existed at a time when just being a woman should have been enough to keep her from finding her voice. It is a film that should be shown to any and all fledgling or struggling artists, whatever their background. It’s a reminder that art is messy. It’s complicated, just like the people creating it. Read full review.
Jennifer Merin Frida, filmmaker Carla Gutierrez’s compelling in depth documentary, is about Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), the iconic Mexican artist whose life and work continue to capture our imagination. Filmmaker fascination with Kahlo has produced dozens of films — narrative biopics, documentaries and tributes — about Kahlo. She’s been beautifully portrayed by several actresses ranging from Ofelia Medina to Salma Hayek. In this latest documentary, Frida plays herself via her illustrated diary, intimate and revealing letters and essays and candid interviews — all brought to life with animation inspired by her art work. The film covering some 40 years of Frida’s life is a first feature from film editor Carla Gutierrez, who had unprecedented access to the archival materials. The new insights presented in Frida are from Frida’s point of view. The documentary reveals the inner strength and vulnerability that sustained and inspired a truly great female artist through society’s challenges and fate’s adversity.
Sandie Angulo Chen: Frida is an unforgettable documentary from filmmaker Carla Gutierrez, who combines archival footage and narrated diaries and interviews to create a fascinating chronicle of the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s life and works. The voice actor narrating the words of Kahlo (Mexican stage and screen actor Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero) does a tremendous job of imbuing Kahlo’s journal entries with a visceral emotional range. Kahlo’s language is brutally honest, about everything from her thoughts about condescending rich art patrons to her despair at Diego Rivera’s repeated infidelity to her anguish over being permanently disabled from a life-altering bus accident. The film animates Kahlo’s paintings, which purists might decry but I found quite powerful. Whether you know a little or a lot about the fiercely feminist artist, Frida offers a riveting, first-person account of her story.
Loren King There have been many excellent features and documentaries about artist Frida Kahlo. But director and editor Carla Gutierrez’s visually stunning Frida delivers something so revelatory that will make you understand Kahlo and her influential work in an entirely new way. Frida celebrates Kahlo’s raw, personal artistry, rooted in her Mexican heritage, through a celebration of color throughout the film’s visuals and through captivating animation. This artful, engaging approach allows us to see Kahlo’s paintings anew: works so imaginative and vibrant yet often so unsettling that they still take one’s breath away.
Liz Whittemore Art lovers, history buffs, and cinephiles unite as Frida presents viewers with a living, breathing, literal portrait of the titular artist. Gorgeously animated paintings, archival videos, photographs, and Kahlo’s diary entries spectacularly collide for an immersive look at this ferocious, unfiltered, and unapologetically feminist creator. Director Carla Gutierrez delivers a visual feast Frida Kahlo would undoubtedly approve of.
Cate Marquis Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has been the subject of several films, both narrative and documentary, in part because her dramatic paintings and bold life remain so fascinating. Director Carla Gutierrez’s biographical documentary Frida brings fresh insights about Frida Kahlo’s life and work by putting it exclusively in her own words, drawn from her letters, interviews and her illustrated diary, and the words of those who knew her. As we hear her words, we are treated to splendid animations of her colorful paintings, reflecting her own life. Kahlo’s color-drenched canvases are so animated anyway, that adding movement to them seems entirely natural. The paintings are accompanied by an array black-and-white photos and film footage, often with splashes of vibrant color added to those as well. Important figures from Frida’s too-short life also weigh in, including husband and fellow artist Diego Rivera, which helps Frida paint a well-rounded portrait that brings you closer to this remarkable woman artist like never before.
FILM DETAILS:
Title: Frida
Director: Carla Gutierrez
Release Date: March 14, 2024
Running Time: 87 minutes
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Screenwriters: Carla Gutierrez using Frida Kahlo’s journals (documentary)
Distribution Company: Amazon Prime
AWFJ Movie of the Week Panel Members: Sandie Angulo Chen, Betsy Bozdech, Leslie Combemale, Nikki Fowler, Pam Grady, Loren King, Cate Marquis, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow, Sherin Nicole, Liz Whittemore
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Edited by Jennifer Merin
