EL MARIACHI

In a sleepy Mexican border town, a lone mariachi musician arrives on foot, dressed in black, carrying just his guitar case and looking for work. His arrival coincides with that of a hit man freshly sprung from jail, who also wears black and carries a guitar case, this one filled with a mini arsenal of weaponry. Upon being mistaken for the hit man, the mariachi finds himself ushered into a violent underworld, where the boundary between good and evil is not always clearly marked. His only protector is the lovely but mysterious bar owner who offers him a place to stay. This is the film you've been reading and hearing about, the low budget masterpiece from the prodigy Robert Rodriguez. During a break from classes at the University of Texas in the summer of 1991, Rodriguez produced, wrote, directed, shot and edited EL MARIACHI on the unbelievable budget of $7,000. He had intended the film to be the first of a trilogy for Mexican home video, and a stepping stone to “real work” in Hollywood. But Rodriguez underestimated his talents. The inventive storytelling, the stylish pacing of tension and laughs, the upending of genre conventions all reveal a considerable filmmaking flair, and foretell a brilliant career. In Spanish with English subtitiles.