El Mariachi (1993)

El Mariachi is a very cheap film. It was produced with a budget of $7000, starring a cast of amateurs, and directed by a then amateur Robert Rodriguez. Now I'm gonna make it clear, I'm not a Robert Rodriguez fan. I've only seen like a handful of his films(The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl, Spy Kids, Spy Kids 4D, and Machete) and none of them have particularly impressed me. But I have to say, I actually really enjoyed this film!The thing that makes this film work against the budget is the simplicity and tension. The film tells a very simple story about a mariachi who gets mistaken for a gangster so now, the gang that the gangster is going on a vendetta on now mistakens the mariachi for him because of his clothing and guitar case and now, he's on the run from them. It's very simple but that's what makes it work. It feels a lot like an Alfred Hitchcock plot with the regular, normal guy who gets himself into a wild goose chase. And it works because you connect and relate with him well rather than if he was like a cop, or an assassin, or something. The decisions he makes in this film are what a regular human being would make, he never decides to get revenge on them or anything like that which makes it feel all the more real and makes you feel like you are on this journey with him.The film also has a lot of tension and suspense. While El Mariachi is classified as an "action film", our protagonist never becomes an action hero during the entire film. He shoots a few guys here and there but the main reason why he manages to survive these chases is just because of luck. So we have a lot of scenes in this film where he has to protect himself from the gangsters and it's very suspenseful because he's just a regular guy who uses nothing but his own wit. And even when there's no action on screen, the film has a lot of tension going on because you don't always know what the characters are up to. For example, there's a scene in the film where Domino makes a call and while she's an ally in the film and the only real ally for El Mariachi, we don't see her make the call, it's all offscreen and it works because it makes you question her alleigance.But there are problems with this film, as I stated before it's a very cheap film and it shows with the cinematography because it just looks really cheap and gritty. I know that it's an action movie but it looks gritty in an ugly sense rather in a beautiful sense like Licence to Kill(1989). There's also some shots in this film that look out of focus and awkward. It's hard to describe but if you've seen the film, you'll know what I mean.There's practically no score in this film. All we hear the entire time is this 80's movie score that sounds like The Terminator and it's just generic and cheap.The film could also use a little more gore. There's some small shootouts in this film and sometimes there's a blood squib and other times, they just fall down. It's really inconsistent.Oh, and there's one line in this film I find ridiculously stupid. After he murders four guys, he goes to the bar looking really frustrated and then the bartender asks him "What's wrong? Had too much soda?" and he replies with "I just killed four guys." Who the hell would say that? I know that he's a really nice guy who doesn't like to kill but why would you say that? Next thing you know, he's gonna ask her "How's your sex life?", lol.But overall, it's a nice little independent film that has a nice, simple plot but also a lot of suspense and tension so I'll give it a 7/10.

So many of the reviewers of this listing have based their reviews on the amazing feat by Rodriguez in creating a film for $7,000.The fact of the matter is that this budget figure is little more than marketing hype, promoted by Rodriguez himself in his book "Rebel without a Crew". This book has sold significant numbers to indie film makers over the years, looking to make successful films on a shoestring and has also dramatically enhanced the reputation of Rodriguez.The truth is that Rodriguez did indeed make this film for $7,000 but the final version the public got to see, the version reviewers of this IMDb listing have seen, needed a further $300,000 spent on it to bring it up to technical and commercial standards/expectations.Even for an estimated total budget of around $325,000 this is still a decent little film, demonstrating film making talent on a limited budget and it's certainly worth a viewing but don't judge it on the basis that it cost $7,000 to make!

It is a surprise to see how far director Rodriguez has come from this movie. This particular movie involves probably the least amount of blood. But either way, it is still entertaining, even if it has English subtitles. I liked the majority of the film except for a few parts.This movie is the story of the guitar player, El Mariachi, who became the vigilante that he was from Desperado (1995) that Antonio Banderas starred in. Everything is explained. From why he became what he became, and how it happened. This movie is not particularly the jolliest of all films. Neither was Desperado (1995) but it did thread in some humor every now and then that did enlighten the spirits. This movie does have a little of it but the story is more focused on the main character itself.Carlos Gallardo plays the original Mariachi, as is his original "girl friend", Domino, played by Consuelo Gomez. Both look great together as did Banderas and Hayek did in the sequel. But because the way the story is told, love never develops. Unfortunately, that was one of the things I wish did occur. However, I can't complain because it led up to a nice sequel. Turns out though, the beginning of the Mariachi's story is quite tragic. Like I said before, it explains everything.The fact that the actors spoke Spanish throughout the movie didn't bother me at all. I am grateful that there were English subtitles because I could still follow what was happening and what was being said. I also enjoyed listening to the dialog in Spanish. It's not often you run into a foreign film when you're in a English speaking nation. Every Spanish word that I heard sounded new and attractive, no matter what mouth it came out of.The music, which had many composers, sounded alright too. It wasn't as memorable as the soundtrack provided by Los Lobos in Desperado (1995) but it still had a good beat. Something I got confused over were the dream sequences that El Mariachi had. What did they represent? Past events? Was the child a younger version of him? Why the severed head? What did that mean? These nightmares were never addressed and there for left me frustrated because I did not understand the meaning of it.The introduction of the Mariachi franchise has the same trademarks by Robert Rodriguez but is also much different. Although it's in Spanish, it's still fun to watch and listen, even if the story is tragic.

I suspect that the screen play was only partially written before filming started, or they ran out of money and decided to wrap up the filming early.I concluded the above because character development and the plot unfolded quite naturally in the first half of the film. Then for some unknown reason, some characters developed exaggerated facial expressions and mannerisms and the plot vanished into thin air.Further, bold characters become caricatures and meek characters become inexplicably heroic. One character who probably had never seen an automatic weapon is instantly an inerrant shot and a quick draw. Another character, who wouldn't be caught dead without his Uzi, takes on drug lord and his gang with only a hostage and pistol.In the first half of the film there were some very interesting cinematographic shots worthy of great director. In the second half, those dazzling techniques were few and far between.This could have been a very good movie, if more time had been taken in writing the screen play.