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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2002)
novembflfU 2002 t FILM Sex! Art! Drama! Love & hate Skip the soaps and tune into the life of Frida Kahlo instead These femmes are really fatale by G ary M orris by L isa B radshaw F r id a Fox Tower, opens Nov. 8 M u r d e r o u s M a id s Clinton Street Theater, Not’. I to 10 iven artist Frida Kahlo’s (1907- 1954) iconic status, it’s surprising that her story hasn’t been told in a feature film before now. Or maybe not, considering she was not only a gifted painter but also an aggressively bisexual, alcoholic, violent-tempered, crippled communist who had an affair with Trotsky and the Soviet flag draped over her coffin. Not exactly Lifetime Channel material. For Salma Hayek, Frida (aka the Tango Unihrow for that cuddly caterpillar Salma stretching artfully across her lower fore head) was a lifelong fascination, so much so that she battled the likes of Madonna and Jen nifer Lopez to get the role. Boyfriend Edward Norton helped with the script and plays Nelson Rockefeller, dour patron of Kahlo’s husband, Diego Rivera, who is portrayed by a predictable Alfred Molina. Julie Taymor (Titus) directs. The result is a colorful, lively dual biogra phy— it’s as much about Diego as Frida— that collapses into cliché too often to he ultimately much more than glorified soap opera. The film certainly moves briskly, sampling the high and low points (probably more of the latter) of Frida’s stormy life. First we see her as a scandalous student, running with a pack of intellectual hoys and terrorizing the teachers. Then comes the famous bus crash that left her in a body cast for a month and began her slide into disability and chronic pain. Still, she forges ahead, becoming a central figure in Mexico City’s rich arts scene of the 1920s and ’30s. Along the way she cultivated a seductive personal style (which included sur rounding herself with peacocks and monkeys) and forged a powerful painting style, in which she appears as a kind of stoic lab specimen occupying surreal landscapes. Much of Frida tracks her on-again, off-again relationship with Diego, whom she alternately adores and denounces as a “fat womanizer,” the latter habit extending even to Frida’s sister. Their scenes are standard histrionics— Frida screaming and hurling things, then Diego screaming and hurling things. Scenes like the cantina brawl resurrect every stereotype of “thiise hot-blooded Latins.” Still, Hayek seems made for the role, and n 1932 Le Mans, France, two 20- something sisters, Christine and Lea Papin, who were working as maids, were arrested for the grisly double murder of their mother-and-daughter employers, Madame and Geneviève Lancelin. When it was discovered the sisters were also lovers, France had one of the most celebrated European crimes of the century on its hands. Quite titillating grist for the media Two sisters in love in the unsettling Murderous M aids mill, the story has continued to shock renamed Danzard) and the Papin sisters. The and enthrall through the decades, with two intentions of both works are indeed clear— stage versions (one by gay writer Jean Genet), Kesselman and Meckler clearly see, or at least at least two books, a documentary and, with chixise to present, the murder heavily based in the new Murderous Maids, a total of four fea class distinction, while Murderous Maids direc ture films. tor Jean-Pierre Denis attributes the crime much In the United States the most-seen previous more to the mental instability of Christine film version about “the monsters of Le Mans,” Papin. as they were called, was 1994’s Sister My Sister, No doubt, the older Papin sister was by British director Nancy Meckler. The screen extremely troubled. She lost her father in the play was penned by Wendy Kesselman, who war and hated her mother passionately. She adapted it from her own stage play. worked to keep herself and her sister away Comparisons are being made right and left from home emotionally and financially. Falling between these two films, with Sister My Sister in love with her sister and becoming obsessive slightly behind critically because of the film about her while becoming increasingly makers’ rather loose interpretation of inter enraged by her snobbish, condescending actions between the Lancelins (who they employers drives her to the zenith of anxiety, and she eventually snaps. Sister My Sister is a dark, moody study of the insular society in which Christine and Lea exist and an examination of severe class distinctions. By the time Christine attacks her boss, you have nearly been convinced Nov. 9 as part of Shorts of Endurance. the boss has it coming. Joely Richardson Sherman Alexie’s film The Business of Fan - (daughter of Vanessa Redgrave) is riveting in cydancing returns to the Guild after a run last the lead role. June. Native American writer Seymour Murderous Maids takes on the more com Polatkin is caught between his present Seattle plex process of toning down the good vs. evil gay intellectual writer lifestyle and his past on model of the house, instead focusing on the the rez. Note: Just Out previously gave this a whole of Christine’s experiences and mental fairly bad review. state. This makes the murders ultimately more A great sneak peek opportunity is the shocking yet still frames her as a sympathetic screening of Gus Van San ts new film Gerry victim of sorts, particularly as the story contin about two friends (Casey Affleck and Matt ues into the young women’s jail cells. Sylvie Damon) who get lost on a road trip. See it here Testud is riveting in the lead role. at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 or wait for the opening about In the end, Sister My Sister is a finer piece of three months from now. —LBJP1 art. Murderous Maids is a finer piece of biography. Both films are very, very good. JH never looked this good: Ashley Judd (left) and Hayek in Frida her excessive embrace of the character has def inite moments of pathos. Queer viewers will appreciate a red-hot tango, complete with lingering kiss, between Frida and her new pal Tina Modotti, played with sizzle by the gorgeous Ashley Judd. And the kx>k of the film can’t he faulted. Shot in vibrant color, it gives an immediate feel of Mexico in the early 20th century. Taymor enlisted the Brothers Quay to devise a series of bizarre animated scenes, including a wonderful Day of Death tableau vnant to express Frida’s nightmare in the hospi tal, which helps boost the sometimes sagging energy of the surrounding melodrama. |H Northwesterly T he Northwest Film Center presents the 29th annual Northwest Film and Video Festival from Nov. 8 to 16, which rounds up the lat est best work of filmmakers from Oregon, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. Let us help you out by telling you which ones are queer. All screenings are at the Guild Theatre, 1219 S.W. Park Ave. The 33-minute “Donor” from Springfield filmmakers Adele Wilson and Eve Whitaker plays at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 as part of S/tons of Pas- sion. You can guess what it’s about. It’s a bitter trip to the supermarket for ex lovers in Portlander Andrew Blubaugh’s four- minute short “He Said,” which plays at 7 p.m. i n jm : t « i ! Í * *g ! M ÉTf *1 Í S ? ? * * ss * ** « » . 3 ^ Queer highlights from the Northwest Film and Video Festival 0 J f ' * Su rrou n d y o u rse lf with sp ectacu lar view s a n d a fresh perspective on "dining o u t." I 4 f / n v // ft !*» / ll \\ !** • V V -**..-** r ~ " y. A b o ard each P ortlan d S p irit cruise, Executive C h e f D av id Fisher, pu ts a new riwjf on N orthw est cuisine. It's the perfect dining experience, a ll the w ay around. \ if f 11 ! 1 1 1 1 a : W Book your holiday party on the Spiriti 1 C a ll ( 5 0 3 ) 2 2 4 -3 9 0 0 o r ( 8 0 0 ) 2 2 4 -3 9 0 1 • b o o k o n l in e n o w at w w w . p o r t l a n d s p i r i t . c o m rj
