Once Upon a Time in Mexico....

[fajrdrako]

I saw this when it opened a week ago, and I've been mulling over what to say about it. I'm still not sure.

On a purely emotional level, I didn't like it. Too violent, too feeble a plot, uninteresting characters - with the partial exception of Agent Sands. I'm not a big fan of Antonio Banderas and though I liked him more here than I usually did, I found his character sort of dull and opaque. Uninteresting. Maybe if I'd seen the previous movies I'd have cared more about his situation?

I even had odd PC reactions, that this was an unfair representation of Mexicans.

On another level - there were things about it I really liked, and they seem better in retrospect. I thought at first I didn't want to see it again. Now... I'm not so sure.

There have been a number of movies I've seen in the past year or so that I thought were too fast-moving, too fast-paced. I lost all interest in the action because it was going by so far. My mind disengaged.... That happened with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and to a lesser degree with Tomb Raider Two. It happened here. Maybe there was more plot than I gave it credit for, and it passed me by.

I had the feeling I was watching the parody of a genre I'd never encountered. Entertainment from another planet or something.

It drove me nuts that the actor playing Jorge FBI looked familiar, but I couldn't recall why, and looking him up on IMDb was no help. I've seen none of his movies. So - why? Does he look like someone else I was thinking of? Or am I just dreaming? Actually, now I think of it, I found him an interesting character, too.

Things I liked:

• The aesthetics. The composition of pictures. The images. The choreography of the movement. I'm not sure how to analyze or articulate it, but there was a beauty to some of the violence and the way it was used. The way the blood on Depp's cheeks spread and streaked, a macabre clown image.
  
  
• Johnny Depp. I suppose in a way this is a 'goes without saying' thing, but it wasn't that I liked Agent Sands: it was that he was a fascinating anomaly, a series of ideas put together in the guise of a character. permetaform suggested that he is a symbol of Death, and that works well for me, with the way he chooses his victims idiosyncratically, remains detached, remains witty, is blind, is led by the innocent boy, is surrounded by figures in death masks, wears black, wears different guises - and has many arms to strike. Moreover, aside from the loss of his eyes, he seems indestructable. It isn't exactly Neil Gaiman's Death (and it sure isn't Terry Pratchett's) but as a variation on a theme, he's extremely interesting. He had all the best lines.
  
  And his gorgeousness is part of the reason I found the movie so aesthetic.
  
  
• My favourite line: the just-blinded Agent Sands (Johnny Depp) to the kid: "I'm having a really bad day."
  
  
• The various times Sands removed his arm. As a repetitive gag, it made be laugh every time. A couple of times I saw it coming. A couple of times (even better) I didn't.
  
  
• Sands' famous/infamous T-shirts.
  

Comments

[permetaform]

I had the feeling I was watching the parody of a genre I'd never encountered.

heh, yeah, it's a COMPLETE parody of all those old westerns, right down to the convoluted assasination plots and the dance-like violence and the re-using actors from old films to play new characters (which is where you might've seen Jorge)

regarding this:

but there was a beauty to some of the violence and the way it was used.

completely. That's the only way you can look at it I think, because once you start doing body counts it gets really gruesome and horrifying.

here, this quote from the production notes might help:

"Robert has boiled everything down to pure action in this film. The character of El Mariachi comes to life through action and movement rather than through dialogue. He is basically a classic hero in that sense. He speaks very little and he moves like a bullfighter or a flamenco dancer. When he shoots a gun it’s like he’s playing a guitar. They are the same thing to him. There’s the same music behind it. The movie almost plays like rock ‘n roll. The violence is all choreographed."

-Banderas

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

it's a COMPLETE parody of all those old westerns

Yes, and I've hardly seen any of them. This explains why so much of it made little sense to me! It was all visceral.
the re-using actors from old films to play new characters (which is where you might've seen Jorge)

Must be, though I've seen very few old movies compared to most people. I'll just keep on trying to remember - or maybe I'll stumble across it and say, "Oh, that's the one." It's a very strong impression but I can't pin it down.

That's the only way you can look at it I think, because once you start doing body counts it gets really gruesome and horrifying.

Yes: I tend to see things through words and intellectual impressions, and it was grueseome and horrifying. At the same time, the abstract beauty of horror/music/pictures/humour was getting through to me. That made it a fairly confusing, fairly gruelling experience, but oddly worthwhile.

Robert has boiled everything down to pure action in this film.

That's it! I don't handle "pure action" very well. But it's good for me to try, sometimes.
The movie almost plays like rock ‘n roll. The violence is all choreographed.

Those sentences in juxtaposition are very interesting. Violence as a music vid. Why does it make me detached rather than involved?