When Edward was a young boy growing up in rural Kansas
he dreamed of running away to join a band. However, he’s now about to have his 30th birthday and he’s still
living at home with his parents, and still taking the mind-numbing drugs his
pediatrician had prescribed, and he's about to lose his dead end job. The one
small joy in his life is occasionally going
out to a small Mexican Restaurant in town which is owned by Alberto a
mariachi player and his wife. Alberto
takes a shine to Edward when he discovers a mutual love for music and he starts
to mentor him with his guitar playing and teaching him how play mariachi style.
Alberto loves telling stories of his hometown
Guadalupe and how he longs to go back there and play once more in the Plaza de
los Mariachis. When one day Alberta has a
near fatal stroke its a wake up call for Edward who finally realizes that life is too short and he needs
to go follow his dream now before its too late.
So he ups sticks and runs off to Mexico and to Alberto's hometown but when he hears all
the bands playing there he soon realizes that he is a very inadequate musician. Luckily by chance he meets Leila
whose family runs a restaurant in the Square and she takes him under her wing,
points him in the way of accommodation, gives him a part time job working in
the kitchen, and promises to find him the right people to help to turn him into
a true mariachi.
Leila is a live wire and a total opposite to quiet slow
Edward and he soon mistakes all her kindnesses as an invitation to
romance. As do we all thinking that we
are about to see a boy meets girl and they all live happily every after
story. Turns out this girl would prefer
to meet another girl, but luckily by then Edward has his music to throw his pent up
lust into, and for a white boy he turns out to be a pretty good musician after
all.
This rather charming story is the 2nd
feature of director Tom Gustafson and was chosen to be the Opening Night Gala at
Miami International film Festival. It
was actually its World Premiere, so it will be some time before you may see it
in your neck of the woods. Good cast: Shawn, one half of Ashmore Canadian acting twins,
played a very cute Edward, and beautiful Mexican actress Martha Higareda was wonderful
as Leila; and Oscar nominee (for Babel) the indomitable Adriana
Barraza played her mother. BUT undoubtedly the best thing about this whole
movie was the incredible music. Totally uplifting
and so hypnotic especially when it was sung so stunningly by Grammy award
winner Lila Downs who I now know (just by the ecstatic reaction from the
audience) is a something of a Mariachi legend.
If I have one niggle it
would be that the film started out really slow and awkward with the acting
really quite stiff even by stalwarts such as Kate Burton and Tom Wopat, but once
we left Kansas it picked up and became an engaging piece. So maybe Dorothy was right after all!
