Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Although he currently works with major-studio budgets, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez has tried to stay true to his independent roots. This is evidenced by the fact that he not only wrote, directed, shot, designed, scored and "chopped" (his own term for editing) Once Upon a Time in Mexico--the kinetic, darkly comic finale to the Mariachi trilogy--he also created special supplements for the disc and plays a prominent role in those produced by Columbia. Rodriguez supplies not one but two audio commentaries. The more disposable of the two spotlights the film's sound design and soundtrack, while the straight director's commentary includes a number of colorful anecdotes about the film's frenzied production schedule and the fact that this is actually the fourth Mariachi movie. Due to the limited availability of co-star Selma Hayek, Rodriguez concocted a final adventure for Banderas' guitar-toting gunman in which he remembers his tragic marriage to Hayek's character as he becomes involved in a military coup d'etat. The supplement Film is Dead documents a personal appearance in which Rodriguez preaches with all the zeal of the newly converted about the advantages of shooting a feature on digital video. Not all filmmakers have big-studio budgets, however, and so he continues his 10-Minute Film School series (begun on the El Mariachi and Spy Kids 2 discs) with handy hints about the way he created some of the film's more flashy visual effects with off-the-shelf software and simple imagination. He offers a tour of the filmmaking facilities in his Austin, Texas, home in another segment and supplies an amusing lesson in cuisine a la Mexicana in 10-Minute Cooking School. The disc's most welcome bonus is a selection of deleted sequences, which confirm most viewers' suspicions: Scene-stealer Johnny Depp did indeed improvise most of the stranger non-sequiturs in his dialog. Rodriguez's technical lessons make for enjoyable viewing, but it's Depp's subtly gonzo character that makes Mexico a must for fans of cult cinema. --Ed Grant