We Are Not Worthy (El Mariachi (DVD))

Member Name: andrewl

Product:	El Mariachi (DVD)
Date:	12/08/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The pinnacle of budget film-making

Disadvantages: None at all, it's a masterpiece

Flawless works of art are fairly infrequent. The 1990s managed only a few. Rodriguez's directorial debut is definitely one of them (in case you're interested, the other main one was 'Song 2' by Blur). A stylish romantic drama, where even the huge number of comically stupid villains fail to detract from the sense of brutal reality, and where you manage to get well into the closing credits before realising how indescribably cheap the whole thing was.

Famously shot for about $5,000, with money Rodriguez raised by undergoing medical trials, El Mariachi has been a totem for aspiring film-makers ever since its release. Sadly, people neglect to remember that actually Columbia spent quite a lot more than $5,000 cleaning the film up and making it cinema-worthy in post-production, but hey, we all like a nice story.

There's a guy with a guitar. He strolls into town, looking for work. Unfortunately, he times his visit to coincide with that of a hitman, whose trademark is a guitar case, and whose target is a local drug dealer. The Mariachi is quickly confused for the assassin and must abandon his sensitive musical soul if he is to survive.

Throughout the film, the musician is associated with sensitivity and wisdom. The Mariachi wanders through making observations on how technology kills our souls and believing completely in omens. He even willingly charges back into danger to retrieve his guitar, his essential tool for self-expression. He avoids the rougher side of life completely to keep his music pure. He tells Domino (the love interest) that he can neither drink nor smoke. As the violence mounts up, the viewer is left with the distinct impression that some aspect of this brilliant, naive musician's talent has been compromised by his resorting to taking life. And this idea is crystallised in the film's climax.

Rodriguez has compensated for his lack of resources during filming by using every camera trick known to director. Odd perspectives jostle with jump cuts and eerily silent tracking shots, while every shot of the guitar (and even its case) highlights the fact that this is an object which is loved.

The acting performances are great across the cast. I don't speak a word of Spanish, but all the characters give such tremendously physical performances that I found myself looking at the sub-titles less and less. The Mariachi is particularly brilliant, especially when a quick glance at the credits shows that he was doing just about everything behind the camera as well!

The drug dealer's lair is curious in that it is shot with a lot of bright colours and greenery, with all the henchmen in clean clothes. This is a huge and striking contrast to the ever-dusty town, and I got the impression that the audience is being told that this crime den is much less 'real', while at the same time stressing that things happening there are of great significance. Perhaps that's the extremely pretentious arts student in me speaking, but hey!

This film is just brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. The filming is consistently beautiful, despite the fact it was apparently shot using a camcorder. The acting is first-rate, the faintly Quixotic sentiment drifting through acts as a superb counterpoint to the violence and the climax is shocking - twist after twist defies convention, winding up the tension to an unbearable level until it's released with a huge laugh followed by a thoughtful ending. Desperado was the sequel, of course, and it's not as different as you might be lead to expect. If you can make the leap of considering the Mariachi as being the same character in both films, the evolution is a brave move and adds pathos to the Banderas interpretation. Watch this film. And fall in love with it.

The DVD contains a selection of groovy features, most notably the ten minute film school, in which Rodriguez points out all the incredible cost-cutting measures he's taken (they only actually had one proper guitar case, and for the scene in which two cases are in shot at the same time, he even refused to the cardboard case black). It can be purchased on its own for the usual £11ish, but I bought it on a double-sided DVD with Desperado. You can also get the full 'Mexico' or 'Mariachi' trilogy including the awesome Once Upon a Time in Mexico for around £15 these days.

Summary: Probably my favourite film of the 90s.