Evita/Frida

EVITA: Madonna tackles the title role in Alan Parker's ambitious recounting of the brief amazing life of former Argentine first lady Eva Pern. Presented almost entirely in song and narrated by Antonio Banderas as a fictional everyman the film charts the alternately revered and reviled Evita's rise from poverty to become a film and radio actress; her relationship with President Juan Pern Jonathan Pryce; and her tragic death from cancer at age 33. The music including the Oscar-winning song "You Must Love Me" weaves an entrancing web and the sets and costumes are awe inspiring. Like PINK FLOYD: THE WALL EVITA is an enchanting mixture of epic fairy tale and sociopolitical psychodrama. FRIDA: Brilliant colors that bring Frida Kahlo's Mexico City to vibrant life combine with a captivating performance by Salma Hayek to make director Julie Taymor's FRIDA a fascinating film. Starting and ending with Frida on her deathbed the film spans the famous painter's life from her teenage years to her death at the young age of 4