By:Joseph R. Castel
Two exceptional new documentaries on visual artists, both Latino and both famous have just been released. Life is Art, by director Luis Reyes, chronicles the career of Pepe Serna, an international character actor from theatre, television and silver screen – think bathroom scene in director Brian DePalma’s Scarface. Yeah, that was Pepe handcuffed in the shower facing a chainsaw. What a way to share a legendary scene with actor Al Pacino, even if it is too gory to watch. Although, Pepe is known for more than 100 TV/film credits, he’s also an accomplished painter whose works have been exhibited around the globe.
The other documentary, Frida, is from Amazon MGM studios, and directed by Carla Gutierrez. At first, I was like, ‘Do we need another documentary on Frida? What is there left to say?’ Director Gutierrez, however, out does all those other docs and creates something comparable to Salma Hayek’s landmark feature bio pic, Frida, in terms of cinematic beauty and lyrical storytelling.
Unlike, Frida, I was able to have a Zoom interview with the incomparable Pepe Serna regarding his documentary that details his illustrious career. At first, I thought Pepe, 79, was sitting in his art gallery because of the amazing artwork surrounding him. Then I see his refrigerator in the corner of the room and realize he’s in his kitchen. Serna’s eclectic own Chicano artwork covers his entire home on Balboa Island like Apple Vision Pro in fully immersive kaleidoscope mode. Serna lives like those iconic artists, Warhol, Picasso, and Frida, whose lives reflect their exceptional artwork.
I ask Serna what life was like being an actor with a penchant for the arts growing up in Corpus Christi in the 1950s. “Well, I had an older brother who was a tough guy and he taught us how to box,” recalls Serna. “And so, when I was in high school, I was in the ballet sequence of the musical Oklahoma, so everybody in high school was calling me, ‘Hey, ballerina, ballerina . . .’ On Friday I left school being called ballerina and on Saturday night I won the Golden Gloves Championship. So, Monday morning, when I came back to school, I was ‘champ.’ ”
Laughing, Serna, says it was cool being the ballerina and the champ. He’s always had the support of his family and friends. “I don’t ever remember any negativity,” recalls Serna. “I knew I was going to Hollywood at the age of three and a half.” Pepe’s family were his first audience. Every day, he’d create a new a character for them to fall in love with.
Going to the cinema at an early age, Serna also realized that Latinos could be real stars. He credits Mexico’s cinematic golden era icons Maria Felix, Pedro Infante, and Cantinflas for giving him the confidence to become an actor. But Serna confesses the he was more influenced by 50’s iconic actors, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and even Elvis Presley.
Serna’s documentary is peppered with testimonies from Mexican American actors such as Eva Longoria, Cheech Marin and Edward James Olmos. Longoria, who’s also from Corpus Christi, claims Serna was an inspiration to her and that he also carved a place for Latinos in the movie industry during a time, very few film roles were available for Latino actors. Although Serna has had his share of gang banger roles, Walk Proud, American Me, and Scarface, he’s also had many more roles in notable films like Day of the Locust, with Karen Black, Postcards from the Edge with Meryl Steep, The Jerk with Steve Martin, and my personal favorite, Chuco in Carwash, 1977.
Pepe Serna: Life Is Art, premieres on digital platforms beginning February 21, 2024.
To check out Pepe’s artwork go to: https://www.pepeserna.net
FRIDA
What makes this Frida documentary tower above the rest, is that it’s told through the legendary artist’s own words, drawn from her diary, letters, essays, and candid print interviews. Very few print interviews on Frida exist, and even those publications, are exceptionally short.
Another extraordinary aspect about director Carla Gutierrez’s doc is that Frida’s surrealistic self-portraits are brought vividly to life through colorful graphic animation. The 90-minute film covers more than 40 years of Frida’s life and the filmmakers received unrestricted access to research materials that have never been shown to the general public before. Gutierrez believes her research team has compiled the most comprehensive collection of Frida’s writings for any film and that it took them two years to complete just the research.
One of the most interesting details revealed in the doc is that Frida never considered herself a surrealist painter like Salvador Dali. She didn’t even know that the surrealism movement existed. This tidbit of info tells the viewer that Frida really painted from her unconscious mind. Her dreamlike symbols of pain, death, and love explores oceans of spiritual depth.
The award-winning director and editor from Peru, admits “People that watched earlier cuts of the film were surprised by how humorous and deprecating she was.” Gutierrez continues, “Her sassiness when she was dealing with the world, especially in America, a lot of people enjoyed seeing that. Because she’s such an iconic symbol, in a way, she’s kind of a confined person. She is the symbol of female empowerment, or sometimes she’s the symbol of Latin sexiness. A lot of people thought about her as somebody that went through a lot of pain, and that’s how they know her. What’s exciting for me about coming into the premiere is seeing what new discoveries people will have of her because of the film.”
Frida will be available to stream March 15th on Prime Video.