NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Johnny I like it. Good example of independent filmmaking. And Rodriguez is one of my favourites. Definitely worth a watch. I watched it many times now and still keeps inspiring me. Story is good and it's well shot by a single man. Would recommend to anyone trying to break in into the industry. Such a nice archivement.

patomartinezfgo I have loved some of Robert Rodriguez's later works like Sin City, so I was pretty excited to see this movie.The movie is extremely small budget and it really feels like it is more expensive than that. I mean, Robert Rodriguez makes this movie look like it had much more money spent on it, and that is because of his creativity and resourcefulness.The directing is really good. I loved many of the shots and scenes in this movie and the way they are edited.My problem with the film or at least my dilemma is... I just find this movie OK. The main actor and character itself is pretty lousy, the movie is too long for its own good, and the story is just OK.Many people argue that this might be justified because of the low budget. But I do believe that all of the story problems don't have anything to do with the budget. It is not as if I don't like low-budget films, I LOVE "The Evil Dead" and other low-budget films. I just find this movie uneventful, and sometimes boring.I think this film is the kind of film you should only watch once and move on with your life. I do recommend you to watch it though.

Lechuguilla A simple story about mistaken identities and lost idealism, "El Mariachi" gets high marks from me for its authentic visuals and absence of big-name movie stars. The film was shot in a real town on the Mexican border, enhancing realism. There are lots of hand-held camera shots, fast cutting, and pleasant lack of CGI. Images look grainy, possibly intentionally so. When the movie was made, none of the actors were well known. As a result, you see characters, not actors playing script roles. Despite the lack of professional actors, overall acting quality is fine.Ambient sounds are amplified, probably for dramatic effect. I really like the guitar score; it's appropriate for the Mexican setting, and it's slightly mysterious. Effective editing masks minor mistakes, such as mismatched lighting and poor lip-sync.The main weakness is the script, originally only 40 pages in length. A guitar-playing musician comes to town looking for work. Unbeknownst to him, a man wearing similar clothes and also carrying a guitar case is involved with a drug kingpin.Except for some violence at times, the story itself is fairly low-key; gore is minimal, thankfully. Though the story could be construed as serious, the tone is decidedly tongue-in-cheek.This film is a pleasant change from splashy, over-hyped, big-budget Hollywood productions that cost millions of dollars. Though I found the story a bit boring and contrived, the overall production offset the script's weaknesses. "El Mariachi" is a good film to watch at least once for its authentic visuals and its ability to convey a credible story at a very low budget.

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) In 1992, a little known director by the name of Robert Rodriguez surprised everyone at the Sundance Film Festival with his low budget action thriller El Mariachi. There isn't a whole lot too this film but that might be what makes it so great. It's a straightforward story about Robert Rodriguez's own "man with no name character." But instead of literally being called The Man With No Name, our protagonist is simple called El Mariachi. El Mariachi is a traveling guitar player whose only dream is to carry on the legacy his guitarist ancestors established. He has to take a detour from this dream when he is mistaken for someone with much more sinister intentions than he. A man by the name of Azul is taking out a drug dealer's men trying to get his money the drug dealer owes him. Moco the drug dealer sends his men out to find and kill Azul. The only problem is his men don't know what he looks like and their only identifier is that he wears all black and carries a guitar case filled with guns. Unfortunately for El Mariachi, he also fits this description minus the firearms. And even though the story is fairly simple, it feels like a lot happens in this film, especially for one that only runs 80 minutes.The most defining thing about El Mariachi is its independent feel, which doesn't hold the film back at all. In fact, it gives it a much more intense and gritty feel. It's lack of glamour and glitz makes it a lot more visceral and, to me at least, more exciting. Rodriguez directs this film with a very rough around the edges feel to it. There are a lot of close ups and plenty of quick hand-held shots that put you into the middle of the action, but due to the low budget aura of the film you don't feel shoved into the action, instead just precariously placed there to watch it all unfold in a very real sense without being over dramatized. You have to respect El Mariachi for what it is and if you do you can enjoy it much more.Like I said before, El Mariachi delivers a lot in under 90 minutes. Amidst the great low budget action sequences there really is a great story, despite any simplicity there is on the surface. The film gives us a quick and intense opening sequence in which Azul breaks out of jail and finds out he wont be receiving his money from Moco. We are then introduced to our protagonist and what he stands for. Then we are quickly thrown into the heat of the story as Azul goes on a killing spree for revenge, and El Mariachi is chased down as a result of these actions. The film never has a dull point, which isn't saying much for such a short film, but it still makes it much more enjoyable overall. And even though we see a simple storyline on the surface, we are actually delivered a very well constructed protagonist. He is somebody we are really able to feel sorry for. He pursues such a pure dream of being a renowned guitarist just like his ancestors before him, and yet he has that dream trashed and scattered by the evil of the world. He begins the film as pretty much the only character with good intentions. The rest of the cast, albeit small, are all greedy scoundrels who taint El Mariachi's good hope. In hindsight, it is actually very depressing. And then of course the film ends with a bittersweet set up for Rodriguez's sequel to El Mariachi, Desperado.El Mariachi is simply awesome. For something so low budget and so limited, Rodriguez does great things with this movie. It's a short but fun ride that begins strong, entertains in the middle, and ends with a bang. This film shows how much can be done with so little and how you can still make a great movie without an overtly complex concept. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I highly recommend it.