Once Upon A Time In Mexico

As regular, long-time readers of my criticism and reviews know my personal crusade is the basic reintroduction of the telling of a good story. All I ask, I have said again and again, is a good story. Tell me a good story and I'm yours.

As regular, long-time readers of my writings may also know I have an interest, a fascination in the story cycle, an art and practice becoming increasingly rare, owing much to the lack of good storytelling skill and talent. The reason for my interest in this particular aspect of storytelling is because I am interested in how few storytellers cross the osmotic boundaries between one genre and another, from genre to mainstream. That is to say, I am interested in how many storytellers, regardless of medium, begin in genre and pass over into mainstream, not to return.

And when they make this transition they all but give up on the story cycle.

Some confusion is undoubtedly apparent here, so I suppose an explanation, a definition of the story cycle is required.

The story cycle, I suggest, is a series of stories, long or short, deliberately constructed around one or more characters. Not a sequel or prequel, these efforts, mind you. A story cycle. Each story within the given cycle features the aforementioned one or more characters, with a determine and absolute conclusion at the end of the last story in the cycle. The stories within the cycle are not necessarily linked in any way beyond the character or characters.

What makes this interesting is that by and large the story cycle takes place almost exclusively within genre storytelling: Science fiction, horror, fantasy.

Or the Old West romantic action thriller.

Robert Rodriguez made his first film, "El Mariachi" in 1992, and in doing so, established a story cycle. He continued it with "Desperado" in 1995, and, now, completes the cycle with "Once Upon A Time In Mexico".

Many comparisons have been drawn between Rodriguez's work and the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone. Fair enough, especially in the matter of finances--"El Mariachi" reportedly was made for a mere $7,000 and "Desperado" was made for a paltry $3 million, while "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For A Few Dollars More" were made on-then decidedly low budgets. The comparisons continue with the fact a known character--Clint Eastwood's The Man With No Name--and Rodriguez's El Mariachi make repeat appearances. And they are made again with an aesthetic element: Each story in each story cycle exists in the moment, in epic shots, in closeups of sweaty faces. But it is here the comparisions all but end. Because when it comes to the directing, writing, and storytelling talent and abilities of Robert Rodriguez there is no comparison or equivalent, and the reason for this is because he knows, perhaps instinctively, how to tell a good story.

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