El Mariachi

1992 action movie

Rating: 13/20

Plot: All he wants to do is be a mariachi. He's mistaken for another guy, a guy who carries around a guitar case filled with weapons after his escape from jail, and finds himself smack in the middle of a low-budget adventure with condoms filled with fake blood and romance.

I couldn't get the director commentary off because, apparently, I'm a cretin. Rodriguez did manage to convince me that this is probably the greatest 7,000 dollar film ever made. There was so much made for so little. While the story is actually pretty pedestrian, the action scenes are good and the characters are interesting enough. The little happy accidents (like the turtle featured on the movie poster) give this movie a texture, and I had to give the movie a bonus point for the scene with the musician showing off his keyboard skills after the protagonist applies for a job at the place he plays. It might not always look great, but it's an entertaining debut.