Machete part 2.

So. Now that I was able to express my aesthetic infatuation with the film, I suppose it's only right that I talk about the other part, the politics.

Aside from calling male filmmakers out on portraying female characters as glory holes, I try to keep this blog light-hearted. But it would be irresponsible of me to yammer on and on about Machete without mentioning the bigger message of the film, which is the immigration issue.

I'm staying neutral in it, but the film definitely causes one to examine what (illegal) Mexican labor means in this country. I think it was the Hungarian bodyguard that said something to the effect of, "you know, we let them build our houses, maintain our lawns, cook our food, take care of our children, but we won't let them be citizens? It doesn't really make any sense." The photo above is of Senator John McLaughlin (DeNiro), whose platform happens to be an electric fence along the US/Mexican border.

My brother deals with this all the time as a chef and a restaurant manager--it's worth considering what would happen if all of a sudden one day every illegal worker just upped and walked off the job. . .

The film showed Mexican day laborers swarming in a huddle, waiting anxiously for someone to come by and offer them work. Luz, Michelle Rodriguez's character, was in charge of The Network, which helped immigrants get across the border to find housing and permanent jobs. It may have been a very specific cross section of the population, and I don't know how realistic it was (I live in Minnesota, far from any state that shares the Mexican border) but the film showed people who wanted to work, who wanted as Luz said, to escape their own personal hells. The standoff at the end is between the illegals and the vigilantes who had been hunting them, interestingly enough, started by Sartana Rivera the Immigration Special Agent (Alba) who incites them to rally, "We didn't cross the border, THE BORDER CROSSED US!" Earlier she had explained to Machete, "the system works here," but apparently changed her mind. Now that I think about it, her change of heart came a little out of no where, but dammit, that battle had to happen somehow, right?

(I can already see Donald shaking his head at all the rule-breaking. . . )

So yeah. I guess there will be things that will certainly bother a lot of viewers about this stuff, but remember, it's a STORY. I don't think realism was what Rodriguez was going for (Machete uses assailant's small intestine for an escape vine out window); wasn't there some bit about Bin Laden in Planet Terror? Zombie Bin Laden?

I don't have a problem with it. But I live in Inception, remember? And sorry, but there is something appealing to me in imagining what would happen if the Edina sector had to suddenly mow their own lawns, cook their own food, and raise their own children. . .

Kingpin. Machete.

This series came out in 2003 and played on NBC.
Unfortunately, it was not picked up as a regular series; I think it would have been a good one. The only problems I had with it were pacing things mostly, items that they could have taken their time with had they had more than six episodes to develop everything.

It's like Traffic meets The Sopranos meets The Wire meets Breaking Bad. Jesse Pinkman even makes an appearance as a pot dealer! The characters were mostly stereotypical and overplayed (hello, Latin hot-heads. How on earth did they ever get anything accomplished with everyone losing their tempers every six minutes?) but I think caricatured people were what made this story what it was. Danny Trejo plays a Voo-doo guy; Sheryl Lee plays the boss's cocaine-addicted wife. And while I was excited to see good old Laura Palmer doing lines again, I have to make a tiny criticism of her general appearance (feminists, go ahead and roast me). She needed to be blonder. If Miguel was going to risk the disapproval of his entire family over this Gringo-American lawyer he was going to marry, she needed to be worth it, you know what I'm saying? Half the time she looked like she just rolled out of bed, and it was kind of a downer. Sheryl Lee is hot, why not show it? In the picture above, she looks great but they never costumed her that way in any of the episodes.

Yancie Arias plays Miguel, and has the perfect look for this sort of character. I found his dialogues and deliveries to be a little "banana in the tailpipe" (as Axel Foley once described), but I still liked him. The brother, Bobby Cannavale, was right on. The music was good, the opening credits were very good. Again, shame it wasn't picked up, this really could have been something.

Okay, Machete. 


And SPOILER, fair warning.


Really, this film was a lot like Planet Terror. I was in the theater, by myself, having a great time, giggling and gasping in equal numbers at everything that was going on. It did not become one of my very, very favorite films until Luz (Shé) came busting out of that ambulance, just busting right the hell out of the double doors. That scene alone fucking ROCKED me. She had just been shot in the eye a few scenes back, and because things move at a pretty decent clip in this film, I had almost forgotten about her because they were all in the middle of a battle. Obviously those who had seen photographs or previews knew that she would at some point make an appearance with an eye patch and a couple of SIG-sauers. I did not see any of this however; for all I knew she had bitten Don Johnson's proverbial bullet. She lived, she came back, and she was amazing.This scene goes among my top five favorites in any film, ever, at number one. 


Jeff Fahey as Michael Booth was almost as amazing. Pulling up to the street where Machete is doing the ally fight and rolling down the window in the Benz? Very suave. Shooting up that meth-house to pull his daughter (Lindsay Lohan) out? Pretty bad ass. I think he honestly did a bang-up job in this film, not just as a crazy old Lapidus but legitimately. 


And Cheech. I have to say that after my girl, Michelle, his scenes were probably the best. "Okay, okay, I absolve you of all your sins, now get the fuck out of here!" Seriously.


Danny Trejo, what can I say? When Matt and I first saw the trailer for Machete (on Grindhouse), we both looked at each other and said something like, "Holy Shit! When the hell is THAT coming out?" The whole thing just appealed to me, the character, the story, and every other outlandish thing that was happening and when I finally got to see it,  I wasn't disappointed. Danny Trejo was a great Machete and a great leading man, despite not being an average Hollywood actor, and certainly not being traditionally beautiful. There is something about him, though, and trust me, I've had the hots for plenty of guys who were not perfect tens, sometimes that something really resonates. 


Sequel, Robert? I'll be first in line.