Film: El Mariachi
Running time: 81 mins
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gómez, Jaime de Hoyos, Peter Marquardt, Reinol Martinez
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller
Country: Mexico/USA
Region 1 release.
Robert Rodriguez built up a spectacular CV when he took on every film role going in order to finance El Mariachi. The film not only spawned two sequels (making up his Mexican Trilogy), but it signified the beginning of a long and illustrious career in the industry.
Local gangster Moco (Peter Marquardt) makes an attempt on the life of his ex partner-in-crime Azul (Reinol Martinez). Moco’s theft of his share from their last job left Azul angry, but the botched plan to end his life allows him to escape from his cell with only revenge on his mind. Once he is free, he arms himself with a guitar case filled with knuckle dusters, knives and guns, and heads into town to a local bar. When Moco isn’t there, he murders everyone except the barman, who is left alive to let Moco know what has happened in his bar.
On the same day, a practicing mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) arrives in the town in search of steady work. Wandering from bar to bar around town looking for work, he becomes the target of Moco’s henchmen because he matches their description of “dressed in black, carrying a guitar case.” When finally pushed to his limit, he is forced to kill four of the men in the name of self-preservation.
Embroiled in a feud he has no real place in, local bar owner Domino (Consuelo Gómez) takes pity on him, and allows him to stay in her room in exchange for his services in the bar. The mariachi falls in love with his host who is also the object of Moco’s affections, and when Azul goes to her bar looking for her, the two guitar cases finally get mixed up between the targets. This switch saves Azul’s life when he is stopped in the street at gunpoint, however, it leaves the mariachi with a case filled with weapons, forced to fight not only for his own life but for the life of the woman he has grown to love...
El Mariachi is a visibly cheap film, a product of an inexpensive camera and grainy film stock, but for a creation of just $7000 in 1992, it’s a testament to Rodriguez’s abilities to adapt. Many shots in the film appear to be obscure and inconsiderately angled, while others are cut off and don’t include everything you would expect in a shot. This can make the film frustrating in places, although combined with the gritty feeling provided by the old film stock, it does create a certain sense of atmosphere. This is most notable in the nightmare sequences shot in burnt out, abandoned and dusty locations.
One of the most notable elements within the film is the silence, which is an odd sensation when the majority of films prepare audiences for a constant supply of both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. However, because the film was shot silently with the sound recorded separately, there are moments within the film lacking any sound at all, despite being in an overly crowded traffic zone. These silent moments are strangely distracting from the film, and more time can be spent in noticing them than in enjoying the film.
El Mariachi is essentially a comedy under the guise of an action flick. It may well contain countless gun shots and exploding chests, but almost everything about the film is designed to amuse the audience more than it is to shock or thrill, right from the first time the mariachi kills in self-defence – he runs across the roof of a car, and as two gunmen turn to shoot him, they dramatically send a hail of bullets into each other’s chest. This, like most other pictures, is one that requires the suspension of disbelief.
Essentially designed as a pastiche of older Spanish movies, the film retains a certain sense of childishness throughout, from the cheesy dialogue to the main gangster being named Moco – a rough translation of which is ‘booger’. The sound effects alone are a great contribution in this respect, such as the cartoon-styled cracking of bones and dialling of phones. The humour can be quite surreal, however: a bartender refuses the mariachi’s services on the grounds that he has a whole mariachi band – at which point one man in a sombrero steps forward with a pre-recorded ‘tune’ on an electric keyboard, complete with electronic shouts of “yeah” every few seconds.
The acting is superb, and Peter Marquardt’s hyperbolic performance alone sets a marvellous tone within the film. He creates a spectacular parody of the stereotypical gangster with a deranged edge to his every action. In the finale, his erratic behaviour is a perfect send-up of almost every gangster movie. Despite the film’s significant concentration on Domino and the mariachi, it is Moco who steals the film.
El Mariachi has no qualms about ridiculing itself, which makes it far more palatable than its obvious low-budget would normally allow, and while it might take some effort on the part of the audience to gain an emotional investment, it’s worth letting it play to the end. JK
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