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Mariachi Gringo Discovers a Mexico Simpler and Warmer Than Kansas

Comments (0) By Lily Janiak Wednesday, Mar 13 2013

In the opening minutes of Mariachi Gringo, director Tom Gustafson needs to show that Kansas is too desolate and oppressive a place for the brooding but golden-throated Ed (Shawn Ashmore), so he makes the blue skies harsh and depthless like wallpaper and the family dinners full of knife-scraping and forced jokes about the meat loaf. That way, a scene later, he can get Ed escaping to Guadalajara where the young man pursues his newfound dream of joining a mariachi band. It didn't take much for the depressive to alight on this particular goal; all he had to do was eat in his favorite Mexican restaurant and wait for local mariachi Alberto (Fernando Becerril) to read his mind. "Mariachi is the soundtrack to life in Mexico," Alberto tells Ed during one of the pair's subsequent tutorials, during which Ed, in meeting Alberto's family, discovers that Mexican culture is simpler, warmer, and more exciting than his own. His arrival in Guadalajara does little to complicate that reductive notion, as locals like Lilia (Martha Higareda) are just as eager to help him pursue his dream as Alberto was. Higareda is immensely likable in the thankless role of a supportive girlfriend whose one non-stereotypical quality is her possible bisexuality. Amid this malarkey Gustafson is smart enough to let the camera linger on musical performances that reveal mariachi to be dynamic and complex as opera.

Details

Mariachi Gringo
Directed by Tom Gustafson
Opens March 15, Jackson Heights Cinema

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m_gringo
m_gringo

Mariachi Gringo has been embraced by festival-goers in Mexico & the USA and has brought many audiences to tears with its positive and celebratory portrayal of Mexico.  It's sad this reviewer doesn't see the value in that, but instead reduces our film down to 'malarkey' 

 
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