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El Mariachi (1992)

Rate: 10
Viewed: 3/05, 6/06, 5/21

ElM
6/06: El Mariachi is a stunner of a picture.

There's a lot of uniqueness about it which is reminiscent of The Wild Bunch. Of course, the avant-garde camera work is what sets the film apart from others.

What's also nice is the romantic tragedy which becomes a surprise as it suddenly happens at the end. Adding a lot of flavor to it is the Mexican grittiness. The overall result is a hard-to-capture foreign quality that's more poetic than anything else.

Carlos Gallardo is delightful, providing some playful tone to the film. He has a great chemisty with Consuelo Gómez who plays Dominó. It's cute to see the uncanny resemblance Peter Marquardt has to James Spader.

All in all, Desperado is a well-done picture, but El Mariachi is superior in all aspects of filmmaking.

5/21: El Mariachi is a stunning Mexican picture that's on the same level as À bout de souffle.

Robert Rodriguez was 23 years old when he made the film, serving as the writer, cinematographer, editor, director, and more. His budget was $7,225 total which was later blown up for an extra $200,000 when Columbia Pictures picked it up for further refinement and wider distribution.

El Mariachi has a poetic quality that's almost never seen in Hollywood cinema by relying on low-angle shots, quick cuts, and Mexican grittiness which will be replicated in Traffic. It goes a long way when the cast of unknowns is made up of distinctive characters. The writing is terrific as the story is transformed into a romantic tragedy.

There are many beautiful scenes. Some of them include a turtle crossing the road, a female going for a swim in Moco's pool, and Dominó holding El Mariachi hostage in the bathtub. A number of thespians such as Reinol Martínez (Azul), Peter Marquardt (Moco the James Spader look-alike), Consuelo Gómez (Dominó), and Jaime de Hoyos (the man in red with dark glasses) either never acted again or did nothing much afterwards which is a shame.

All in all, Robert Rodriguez used all kinds of cost-cutting tricks to make a masterpiece of world cinema through El Mariachi.