Taymor is definitely one of my all-time favorite directors, and that on the basis of Titus and Across the Universe, for I have not yet seen Frida -- it's here, though, and reading your comment makes me think it's nearly time to.
I've only seen Titus once, as a double feature with Alex Cox's Revengers Tragedy* (2002), but I loved it. Across the Universe impressed me more for its staging and design than its story, but Frida works beautifully on the character level as well as the visual translation of Kahlo's art back onto her life; Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina are amazing.
(And as a small child, I was scarred by Fool's Fire (1992), with its puppets and stylized cruelty, but I'd love to see it again.)
I recently found out from my friend fringefaan, a much more devoted cineast than I and a fine writer, that Taymor's next film is to be The Tempest.
Yes. I wish she hadn't felt the need to alter genders, rather than simply cross-casting—if Cate Blanchett can be Dylan and Tilda Swinton Orlando, Helen Mirren can rock Prospero—but I am really looking forward to it. I've seen photographs of stage productions she's done of The Tempest; I'm curious if the film will resemble them at all.
* Best double bill ever. If you have not seen Revengers Tragedy, it stars Christopher Eccleston, Eddie Izzard, and Derek Jacobi, and takes place in post-apocalyptic Liverpool to the tune of Chumbawamba. It's awesome.
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I've only seen Titus once, as a double feature with Alex Cox's Revengers Tragedy* (2002), but I loved it. Across the Universe impressed me more for its staging and design than its story, but Frida works beautifully on the character level as well as the visual translation of Kahlo's art back onto her life; Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina are amazing.
(And as a small child, I was scarred by Fool's Fire (1992), with its puppets and stylized cruelty, but I'd love to see it again.)
I recently found out from my friend fringefaan, a much more devoted cineast than I and a fine writer, that Taymor's next film is to be The Tempest.
Yes. I wish she hadn't felt the need to alter genders, rather than simply cross-casting—if Cate Blanchett can be Dylan and Tilda Swinton Orlando, Helen Mirren can rock Prospero—but I am really looking forward to it. I've seen photographs of stage productions she's done of The Tempest; I'm curious if the film will resemble them at all.
* Best double bill ever. If you have not seen Revengers Tragedy, it stars Christopher Eccleston, Eddie Izzard, and Derek Jacobi, and takes place in post-apocalyptic Liverpool to the tune of Chumbawamba. It's awesome.