EL MARIACHI & DESPERADO: DVD
SYNOPSIS:
Antonio Banderas becomes an action hero in this super-cool film
from Spanish director Robert Rodriguez. When the smoke clears,
that just means he’s reloading…..
"Interested how to make a movie for US$7,000? In this
great DVD package, Robert Rodriguez, director, producer, writer,
editor, cameraman and sound mixer of El Mariachi and director,
producer, writer, editor and steadicam operator of Desperado,
explains how. Obviously, the first thing is to do more than one
job yourself. Presented in widescreen, the picture quality of El
Mariachi isn’t amazing but is by no means terrible. It tends
to be quite grainy with less than vibrant colours along with the
usual dose of film artifacts but overall it is adequately
detailed. It is Rodriguez’s commentary, rather than picture
quality, that is the focus of interest here. In this, one of the
best commentaries I’ve heard so far, Rodriguez explains in
depth the production of El Mariachi and just how to make a movie
for less than $US10,000. This is of great educational value,
particularly to any budding film students out there as well as
being thoroughly entertaining. Did you know Rodriguez actually
saved up part of the budget by being a ‘lab rat’ at a
medical research centre? Along with the commentary, Rodriguez
also presents us with a ‘10 minute film school’, a
behind-the-scenes look at El Mariachi, which clarifies a little
further what he talks about in his commentary. Well worth looking
at. Other extras include Rodriguez’s debut short film,
Bedhead, some filmographies and the El Mariachi trailer. The
sub-title options in the disc’s menu may be of good use here
because there’s no English audio dub, only the original
Spanish track and an alternate German dub.
Flip the disc over and the action continues with the bigger
budget sequel, Desperado. This widescreen transfer is nothing short of
magnificent. The colours are brilliant and the images are very
sharp with little to no film artifacts to be seen. In the sound
department, you won’t be disappointed either. It is
explosive. The opening shootout in the bar gives a pretty good
indication of what's in store. You’ll have the neighbours
ducking for cover in no time. As with El Mariachi, there’s a
commentary track from Rodriguez. This time he explains how to
make a movie for under $US10,000,000. This too, is a pleasure;
Rodriguez never stops talking and always has something
informative to say. To complement this, we’re also presented
with ‘10 minutes more (anatomy of a shootout)’. This is
another interesting behind the scenes doco, specifically looking
at the shootout in the bar and how Rodriguez saved time by
shooting the scene with a simple video camera first to get a
handle on the shots he wanted. These wonderful extras offer a
great insight into the world of film making, the Rodriguez way.
Other extras include two music videos, filmographies and the
original trailer.
This is a fantastic double movie package. Entertaining,
educational and loaded with extras, all on one convenient little
disc, and just what DVD is all about."
Ben Hooft
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CAST (EL MARIACHI): Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Peter
Marquardt
CAST (DESPERADO): Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim De
Almeida, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin, Quentin Tarantino
DIRECTOR (EL MARIACHI & DESPERADO): Robert Rodriguez
AUSTRALIAN DVD RELEASE: November 15, 1999
RRP: $34.95
DVD DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia TriStar
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We gratefully acknowledge the complimentary use of a DVD
player from Philips.
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