El Mariachi Special Edition DVD Review
Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 09.16.2003
No, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” is the THIRD in the series. “El Mariachi” is the first…
El Mariachi Special Edition DVD Review
The Film
Robert Rodriguez, now known the world over for films like “Desperado” and the “Spy Kids” trilogy, had very humble beginnings. Now, thanks to the miracle of DVD, and the fact that “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” is being released, we are able to see his first film “El Mariachi,” in all its glory.
Made for the bargain basement price of $7,000 (which Rodriguez reportedly earned by spending time in a medical research facility, “El Mariachi” is the beginning of a story that would be refined and stylized three years later with “Desperado.” A wandering Mariachi (Rodriguez’s friend and co-producer Carlos Gallardo) comes to a small town in Mexico looking for work. He wears black pants and a black jacket, and carries around a black guitar case. He is repeatedly turned down, once by a surly man who already has a keyboard player, and the other time by a beautiful woman that the Mariachi instantly falls for.
The story kicks in when another man dressed in black with a black guitar case comes to the same town. This man is Azul, and he is looking for Moco (Peter Marquardt), who owes him money. Azul’s guitar case contains not a guitar, but an assortment of guns and knives. What ensues is a classic case of mistaken identity, as the Mariachi gets mixed up with the wrong people, and has to learn how to defend himself very quickly. Also, the woman he has fallen for is also the apple of Moco’s eye, and Moco is not the type of man to concede defeat to anybody. All four of the main characters are now connected, and the final confrontation exhibits good storytelling, much like the rest of the movie. Those who have seen “Desperado” know what the ending is, but I will not spoil it for those who have not.
The most important aspect of “El Mariachi” is the visual style. Since he only had $7,000 to make the movie, Rodriguez had to be very creative in his style, and it works very well in this kind of movie. Using only one take on most of his shots, and using several different techniques like jump cutting and speeding up the film, Rodriguez creates an ideal atmosphere for this story. The actors all do an excellent job, despite the fact that I have never seen any of them in another movie. Gallardo is great in the title role, as he just wants to play the guitar like his ancestors, but is thrust into a life of violence that we will see continued by Antonio Banderas in “Desperado” and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.”
The Video
Did I mention that this movie was made for $7,000? The video quality certainly validates that fact. But fortunately for Rodriguez, the lousy VQ is advantageous to his story. The very gritty nature of the story looks right in the grainy, washed-out colors in the film. Rodriguez is very high on visual style, and it was great to see how he began. “El Mariachi” is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Anamorphic Widescreen.
The Audio
The Audio is also slightly weak, but given the years and cost of the film it is forgivable. In fact, given the money spent, the audio is pretty good. It is presented in Dolby Digital, in Spanish with English subtitles. All the gunfire sounds great, and the dialogue was not very important since I don’t speak Spanish I was reading it anyway.
Special Features
There aren’t many, but the ones that are there are really good.
First, the film was a new film transfer from the original negatives, supervised by Rodriguez himself.
There is a director’s commentary, and Rodriguez is more interesting than most commentaries.
We are treated to Rodriguez’s short film “Bed Head,” a highly amusing tale with members of the Rodriguez family in starring roles.
The best feature is a “10-Minute Film School” featurette, with Rodriguez explaining how he shot several key sequences in the film with such a small budget. His main advice to aspiring filmmakers: “don’t spend any money, and just be creative.” That’s good advice.
We also get a sneak peek for “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.” It is just over four minutes long, and shows little more than any trailer would show. But it’s still fun.
There are also some trailers, for “El Mariachi,” “Desperado,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” and a few other movies as well.
The Film: 7.5
The Video: 6.0
The Audio: 7.0
Special Features: 8.5
The 411: “El Mariachi” is actually vastly superior to its sequel “Desperado” in almost every way. It has a much better story and better drawn characters. It was heartening that given the enormous budgets of most films today that a man could get a movie made for as little as Rodriguez did. Plus it is always interesting to see where a good filmmaker got his start, and we see that twice (with the feature and the short film), so this is an excellent DVD find (I found it packaged with “Desperado” for a mere $20).
