i went to go see "once upon a time in mexico" by robert rodriguez. this is the last episode in the mariachi trilogy. i liked "el mariachi" but wasn't so much into "desperado". what i think is really great about "el mariachi" is how good it looks and sounds for being such a small production. once i read rodriguez's book, "rebel without a crew", that tells the story of the making of the film, i thought the technical achievements were amazing. i find it to be such an inspiring book. it makes you want to immediately jump out and create films. once you read the book, you have no excuse not to!

what i liked about "once upon a time in mexico" is that it really highlighted the mythical quality of the mariachi/gunslinger character. what do we really know about him other than the stories passed down by townies? are his flashbacks memories--have they been colored by time?--or are they merely dreams of what never was? and what of the other mariachis that he used to play and fight with? all of these aspects are interwoven into a grander scheme that involves another part of mexico that is very mythical: government and revolution. i think getting rodriguez's friend, carlos gallardo the original mariachi, to have a minor cameo type role would have been a nice touch and throwback to the old days. (he is credited with producing, though.) during the credits, it what was very nice to learn that rodriguez still has a lot of hands on with his films, making it very much his creation. even though he now has big budgets and lots of crew members, he still holds cameras, edits, and composes soundtrack. excellent!