Every genre has rules and that includes homage, which is basically a genre impersonating other genres. Doing a send up of past movie styles, you must decide right off the bat whether you are going to run faithful to the original content or celebrate it with a sense of humor or possible mockery. Trying to do all of those can lead to a sense of confusion for the piece and leaves the audience wondering whether they should be taking anything they see seriously. With such an overwhelmingly positive lead-in, you might already get the gist of my opinion on this 70′s-style mexican-sploitation flick (Is “brownsploitation” a word? Guess it is now.) For more detailed reasons, keep on reading.
Machete tells the terrible tale of a former Mexican federale who witnesses his wife get decapitated by a notorious drug lord. Surviving the fire he was supposed to have died in, Machete makes his way across the border to try and make a new life for himself, but he soon finds the past hardly ever stays in the past. Colliding with the heated battle over illegal immigration, he finds himself a pawn in a much larger game, but one he is determined to finish.
My biggest issue with this flick is the one thing in the description that does not belong, actual politics. While some movies are built and bred for commenting on the real world outside the theater, exploitation movies parody that world instead of making serious commentary. Machete dives way too deep into the political firestorm of immigration policies and finds itself trying to make a real statement, while still keeping the boobs, blood and blades. That kind of balancing act throws the entire experience for a loop and derails the silliness that should’ve been running through every moment of the script. The opening five minutes were great and emblematic of what the following ninety should have been, but for some reason a decision was made to attempt a meaningful plotline. Wrong move.
Also, this movie was basically an experiment in growing something for a very specific fan base. The original trailer for Machete was created as a fake movie trailer in the Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature, Grindhouse. The context and application were perfect back then, but splitting it out and creating a new feature film out of it might have been one step too far. Parts of it felt like Machete director, Robert Rodriguez, just had so much fun making the trailer that he didn’t want to let it die there. While I fully support people working on stories and projects they have a passion for, sometimes there needs to be more reason to do it than, “It was fun.”
For those who read even deeper between the lines in the Hollywood lexicon, this film also was supposed to represent the inevitable and well deserved top billing of Danny Trejo, a character actor who so many know by face, but so few know by name. I fully stand behind finding a leading role that Trejo could finally take to the screen and get some hard earned credit for, but Machete felt thin and hollow in comparison to his earlier cameo and side appearances. I hope Trejo gets another shot at taking the starring role, but if you are looking for that great stepping out into the spotlight moment, it’s not here (try The Visitor instead, where the amazing Richard Jenkins got his starring shot and received incredible amounts of nominations, all well deserved.)
Surrounding Trejo was a handful of random names, each meaning to drive the audience further into a novelty frenzy, but as the scenes wore on, very few really made any real impression. Jeff Fahey (who many know as the virtually insane Lawnmower Man), Steven Seagal (from numerous martial arts actions movies bearing three word titles, Marked for Death, Above the Law, Hard to Kill, etc…), and Jessica Alba (if you don’t know her, well, you probably don’t own a computer), they all make an effort to keep the tongue-in-cheek mentality alive, but when Alba makes her big “the border crossed us!” speech in the movie, the rising tide crests and breaks against the shores of overdone filmmaking. The worst of the bunch was Lindsay Lohan, which has now become a perfect example of what happens when your off-screen infamy distracts from your on-screen fame. Her entire role was a joke commenting on her real life, which only made it worse. If she wants to get back into the good graces of the movie watching audience, she needs to take something with a bit more meat to it and prove she’s more than just a faded child star. The only person who actually got some good screen time out of this was Hollywood rebel chic, Michelle Rodriguez. She really did embody a revolutionary leader persona and it made me wish Steven Soderbergh had found a place for her in his biographical epic, Che, about the Cuban guerrilla revolutionary leader. While she might have had some rocky times in the shiny city of Hollywood, Rodriguez is beginning to remind people what she is capable of (which if you are one of those in need of reminding, please go watch Girlfight.) Maybe she could teach Lohan a thing or two?
The End of the Page Recommendation: Machete cut itself down with too much politics and not enough limb-chopping. For a better example of exploitation homage, check out Black Dynamite instead.
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 8:50 am. Add a comment
The moment I sign this, can someone please check the guy behind me? He seems fishy.
Arizona recently enacted one of the most backwards and revisionist immigration laws in our country. The piece of paper the governor signed into practice states that the police are now under orders to pull over, question or otherwise force any person in the state that “looks to be an illegal immigrant” to immediately show proper documentation of their status as American citizens. Most pundits and newscasters have been referring to this as the “Papers, Please.” bill. While I do not personally live in Arizona, this is a dangerous game to begin because a number of other Southern states with more conservative leaning electorates are watching very closely as to whether this law will withstand the oncoming onslaught of civil liberty and constitutionality law suits. If it does, you can be assured you will see laws like this popping up all along the southern border and spreading upwards. Honestly, do they think every illegal immigrant just stops in the first border town?
Arizona is the number one crack in the wall for the passage of illegal immigrants and in turn the number one funnel for the Mexican drug trade, but this sweeping doctrine is the result of over-reactionary zealots who are attempting to purify the state. What this does once more is bring back the everlasting debate over what a “real American” looks like. Supposedly this is the only way the Arizona police will know who to pull over and who to let by. I don’t envy any officer who has to enact this incredibly misdirected statute, which, at its core, institutionalizes blatant racism.
Recent rumblings around the legal circles depict this new law being shot down right after its inaugural usage. The first case to be brought by either the ACLU or any other civil rights group will force this into the State Supreme Court and it will find itself tossed out as a poor reminder of immoral laws gone by, like Jim Crow. Governor Jan Brewer states we will not see the abuses of personal and public rights we fear and that she is only doing what she feels is best for her state in the absence of any real immigration reform on the Federal level. I’ll grant her a small point on the lack of movement from President Obama and his administration, but her rash decision cannot be polished into rational judgment by that fact alone. President Obama has immigration reform in his sights and it seems to be next on the list once Wall Street reform gets enacted. He’s on a real roll and the momentum could carry along many of the changes he promised along the campaign trail.
As for me, well, there were days before when I felt that one voice couldn’t do anything, but I’ve learned through many examples set out before me that one voice can be added to another and then to another until the once silent whisper of a concerned citizen becomes the booming cry of a motivated public cheering for justice. In that vein, I’ve taken to writing letters and e-mails to any politician I believe is proposing or supporting laws I do not believe in and I encourage everyone to make your own voices heard as well. If there is one thing the recent Tea Party revivals have gotten right (and as far as I can see it has been only this one thing) is the government works for the people, which means you. Never forget it is your right to inform your employees when they are not doing their job correctly.
Obviously, since Governor Brewer signed the bill into law, my plea fell on deaf ears, but here are the words I sent her way:
Dear Governor Brewer,
Although I don’t live in your state, the bill currently sitting in front of you is going to set a precedent which will affect a growing number of states, especially those along the southern border, like California. I truly empathize with your situation and the need to get illegal immigration under control, but this current attempt is the wrong way to go about it. All the talking points being sent out now in defense of it are only trying to pull the wool over the eyes of a stunned and offended nation. This is going to create state-mandated racial profiling in the worst way. Every Mexican-American, Latino-American or South American, born free here under our nation’s laws, will be treated to regular accusations and challenges to their status as Americans. Yet, while some might say this racial profiling would not happen in such dire terms, can you tell me Irish-Americans, Russian-Americans or even British-Americans are going to feel the same microscope following their every move on their downtown streets?
You have the power to stop your state from changing it’s identity from a piece of what we call the “land of the free” into a racially cleansed country club. Please use that power.
You can follow these links to find the contact info for your senator, state representative or governor. Let them know what you think. Then, let me know what you get back!
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 4:14 pm. Add a comment
Taking the ordinary and introducing it to the out-of-the-ordinary. That’s what Thomas McCarthy said about his films and their underlying stories. Actually, he probably put it a little more eloquently, but you catch the drift. This is indeed the core of nearly all filmmaking and good storytelling. It brings out the eternal question; What happens when the normal world is shifted, knocked askew by any number of forces and how will the people of that world react? Will they run? Will they freeze? Most importantly of all, what would we do in their shoes? Now before you apply these new questions to such deep and powerful films like Beerfest and Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo, let’s start out with something a bit clearer.
The Visitor tells the story of Walter Vale, an economy professor listlessly wandering through his days pretending to be busy so he can negate any chance for human contact since the loss of his wife. He reluctantly makes a trip to New York for a conference and finds a young couple illegally renting his apartment in the city. Being a decent person, he allows them to stay while they look for a new place, but in return he gets much more than new roommates, he finds the doorway to a life which has been passing him by.
Thomas McCarthy creates a wonderfully simple and beautifully timeless world for us so we can bear witness to one of the great abilities in human nature, love. You can break almost any story down into a love story, but The Visitor is one dealing with numerous types of love in one tale. There is the love of music, shown when Tarek, the young man living in William’s apartment, teaches William about the African drum. Through this new musical outlet, William grows not only as a drummer, but as a person as well, allowing himself to open up to the world walking by him and becoming a participant instead of an invisible observer. There is the love of a young couple, shown by Tarek and Zainab, his girlfriend. They are both living in the country under constant fear of deportation, ignorant retaliation and learning to do what they can to get by, but their love for each other keeps them together and puts smiles onto their faces in even the darkest of moments. There is also the love of a mother for her son, shown through the brave journey of Mouna, Tarek’s mother who travels to New York after five days of not being able to reach her son on his cell phone. Sure, that could sound a touch paranoid, but it was the reality this family was living in which made her so concerned. Lastly, just to top off the love-fest, this also tells the story of love coming again to those who have closed themselves off to the idea. No matter what the circumstances, no matter how long it has been, love can always breach those defenses and wake up the heart once more. All these different versions of love are delicately woven together and paired up with a powerful political sentiment around our broken immigration policies and treatment of illegals. Coming off heavy handed is dangerous when dealing with these themes, so subtlety is the name of the game here and McCarthy handles it with the same skill and honesty he showed us before in The Station Agent. As a writer/director his record is incredibly strong, so I recommend keeping an eye out for anything bearing his name.
As with most small stories like this one, much of the weight and success falls on the shoulders of the actors and their ability to deliver realistic, believable and truthful performances. Casting becomes a type of “make-or-break” decision for the project and Thomas McCarthy came well prepared to the table. He had Richard Jenkins in mind for Walter Vale from nearly the beginning and stuck with him even after Richard told him that he would love to play the character, but the movie would most likely never get made with him as the lead. Richard wasn’t saying this out of any type of martyr complex, but he has been a character actor for a great many years without a starring role and he knew his name would not carry much weight on the playbill, yet even with that fact staring him in the face, Thomas stuck to his guns and fought for Richard. After winning all necessary battles, Richard walked into the role with such amazing depth and sensitivity garnering him incredible buzz and murmurs of Academy nominations. If he doesn’t reach the heights of the golden statue this time, he shouldn’t be too heartbroken because I have no doubt a number of the independent awards and smaller organizations are going to give notice and heap praise. There were such small and nuanced details to every moment he portrayed, it was impossible not to feel for him during this journey. From platonic caring to romantic longing, Richard proved once and for all he is a lead actor and one to be learned from. Also involved from near the inception of the story was Hiam Abbass, who played Tarek’s mother, Mouna Khalil. She really fit perfectly with the style and grace of Jenkin’s performance, showing a quiet, reserved, yet insurmountable strength which propelled her character to do absolutely anything to be there for her son. As for the young couple, Haaz Sleiman played Tarek and Danai Jekesai Gurira played Zainab. Both were quite good and held up the incredible level of commitment and quality already being displayed in the film. Haaz boldly followed his ark of being hopeful and optimistic about life in America to barely contained rage over his mistreatment from ignorance and fear. Danai displayed the other side of being a foreigner in this country, the side where they try as best as they can to keep to themselves and not interfere or be noticed for fear of being deported. Her struggle displays one of the true tragedies of the story, where the yellow brick road leading many immigrants to our shores and streets ends on cracked pavement and broken promises.
Recommendation: The Visitor is an amazing film which really brings out the depth of feeling we yearn for from independent cinema. It has had a long and slow burn on the film circuit and at this time can already be found on DVD, so do yourself a favor and buy, rent or borrow this movie as soon as you get the chance. If you’re lucky, the story of Walter Vale might even inspire you to continue on your own journey, wherever it may lead.
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Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 9:13 pm. 1 comment
Sorry, kid. I’m fresh out Rolex.
DandyID
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