Frida

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

People know Elliot Goldenthal as the man where innovation starts, where boundaries are set to a standard and where surprises are around the corner each and every time. So, when his wife Julie Taymor made another critical acclaimed movie after her groundbreaking version on Titus, husband Elliot Goldenthal was set to make another triumph of Frida, the true story of a female painter in Mexico. Frankly, I know nothing of the story and haven't seen the movie yet but you had to come in contact with the score since it won both the Golden Globe and Oscar for best score of 2002. Goldenthal already received nominations for Michael Collins and the surprising pick Interview with a Vampire but Frida is different, it is a dramatic movie with a different kind of score. And this release of UMG confirms this. Frida is not exactly the Goldenthal you know since Mexican based music is new to him and a restraint non stylistic endeavor like Goldenthal churned out before is fairly uncommon for Elliot. And so Frida swept away audiences but it hasn't swept me away, especially if you know other soundtracks bombarded me more this year. You know, I am the bombastic type of guy who likes his scores loud, but The Two Towers had simply the best music in the year 2002. And even a light score can do miracles but Frida doesn't come close to the bouncy and wild themes of Under Fire, and since Goldsmith's effort was forgotten totally by the Oscars, it shows again that the movie has to be successful before the score can become a candidate in the list. Frida has moments but is largely forgotten because of the Mexican listing of songs, most of which are boring after you heard only 2 of them.

The score and songs mix between each other and make the transition flawless but this also means that if you forget to listen to the songs, you will forget most of the score with it. Of the songs, I can only remember the first and last since the opener 'Benediction and Dream' is new and interesting at that point and the last since it brings total diversity of the rest of tracks. It is especially more common to our ears since I'm no fan of Eastern or Mexican or Spanish music. Hell, I don't even like most of the Belgian songs sung in Flemish. The score by Goldenthal is fairly obviously built around the guitar, harmonica, few strings, accordion and occasional sounds of trumpet, saxophone, flutes or something else. 'The Floating Bed' is nice since it refers a bit to Under Fire with a nice bouncy theme, never to appear again in the score. 'Solo Tu' brings a mix of guitar and violin to create a moment of emotion, harp and guitar appear briefly in 'The Suicide of Dorothy Hale', 'La Calavera' brings in fact the only real Goldenthal standard sound with out of tones cello and saxophone and 'Burning Bed' is the sole track of brilliance with dancing beautiful strings ala Sphere and Heat with a wonderful mix of guitar and strings. This theme is heard then also in the final track 'Burn it Blue' and glues better then the other songs. But in case for score, Goldenthal's tracks bring too little, underscore which works well in context with the songs but just moments and track 23 alone bring Oscar material, again a sign of a score which works better in the film and probably swept the Oscar board away because it was presented in a good respected movie. However on disc, few songs will appeal to the listeners and the score alone is noticed only when it becomes really interesting, which is not much. Frida is a score for the fans of Mexican based songs since a Mexican based score is liked easily when its penned by Goldsmith. Frida brings too less of that intriguing thematic bouncing and only in begin and end does it bring what we should have heard more, which is sad for an Oscar and Golden Globe Winner.

Score: ***
Songs: *1/2

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Benediction And Dream: Lila Downs * (2.31)

2. The Floating Bed * (1.28)

3. El Conejo: Los Cojolites (2.26)

4. Paloma Negra: Chavela Vargas (3.15)

5. Self-Portrait With Hair Down * (1.08)

6. Alcoba Azul: Lila Downs * (1.35)

7. Carabina 30/30: El Poder Del Norte (2.42)

8. Solo Tu * (1.21)

9. El Gusto: Trio Huasteco Caimanes de Tamuin (2.16)

10. The Journey * (2.55)

11. El Antifaz: Liberacion, Miguel Galindo, Alejandro Marehuala, Gerardo Garcia (2.28)

12. The Suicide Of Dorothy Hale * (0.47)

13. La Calavera * (1.38)

14. Lu Bruja: Salma Hayek & Los Vega (1.55)

15. Portrait Of Lupe * (2.13)

16. La Llorona: Chavela Vargas (2.22)

17. Estrella Oscura: Lila Downs * (1.46)

18. Still Life * (1.31)

19. Viva La Vida: Trio Marimberos * (2.16)

20. The Departure * (2.12)

21. Coyoacan And Variations * (2.32)

22. La Llorona: Lila Downs & Mariachi Juvenil de Tecalitlan (2.19)

23. Burning Bed * (1.08)

24. Burn It Blue: Caetano Veloso & Lila Downs * (5.27)

* Music by Elliot Goldenthal

Total Length: 52.47

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=== Link to Composer Site: Elliot Goldenthal ===