05/05/09 - El mariachi

El mariachi (1992, 81 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104815/

I return after almost of week to watch this Robert Rodriguez film and the first in the Mariachi Trilogy. I haven't seen much by Rodriguez - only Sin City and Planet Terror - but I've liked both of those.

The story is that a lone mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) comes to a small town only to get confused with an assassin, Azul (Reinol Martinez) hunting down a drug lord named Mauricio (Peter Marquardt). Chaos results as hitmen accidentally track down the mariachi. To add to the mix, the mariachi falls in love with the girlfriend, Domino (Consuelo Gómez).

This is one of Rodriguez's first films and this is very much visible. The budget is approximately $7000 with most of that spent on film. It's also reported that everything was shot in one take. All of this is very obvious as the acting is pretty flat, the camerawork is shaky, and the effects are minimal to say the least (bullets only penetrate clothing and only sometimes result in blood). It's hard to knock the film for these shortcomings, but the film is obviously the beginnings of a director that has a lot of kinks to work out. Obviously the story was worked out and fine, the sole (but large) demerit the film has is this inexperienced director.

Overall, I gave this film a 3/10. The problems are there, but Rodriguez is learning. The film is apparently the forgotten title in the Mariachi Trilogy since Antonio Banderas does not play the mariachi in this installment. Hopefully the bigger budget in the other films will make them more enjoyable.