Robert Rodriguez is neither one of the most famous directors in circulation nor a director for all, he is an all-around artist who, since his early work, got to be remembered for his very personal vision of the seventh art, becoming the most audacious flag-bearer of pulp cinema and contemporary exploitation. For the most, surely the name Rodriguez is a direct reference to Quentin Tarantino. The two in fact as well as being great friends have collaborated on several occasions although, Rodriguez has never received the mainstream feedback which his award-winning colleague instead enjoyed.
In order to appreciate this director it is however necessary to be clear about what we mean by exploitation cinema.
Expoiltation is a movie genre developed by the most refined artistic research showing sex and violence scenes with powerful originality. It developed in the 1970s mainly in the U.S. due to an increasingly reduced censorship which resulted in greater acceptance of previously respected taboos.
Robert Rodriguez was born in San Antonio by Mexican parents, in fact, Mexico will be his constant source of inspiration and above all the place where his work will mostly be located. Since his early days, the young man proved to be an all-around creative by drawing, shooting and playing his first movies in his own neighborhood. The director’s true vocation is, however, the result of his mother’s influence who doesn’t love her contemporary’s films and takes her son to see Sergio Leone‘s beautiful works and Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin‘s silent cinema. These works will shape the Mexican director’s future taste, in particular, Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western, which he will later honor with the Mariachi trilogy, especially in Once upon a time in Mexico.
Such vintage and new exploitation cinema will form Rodriguez who by shooting small videos with incredible enthusiasm will learn the filmmaking, editor, composer, and director of photography profession, so much so to make a reputation in the neighborhood as “the child of the movies”. In 1991 the boy continues to pursue his dream by shooting Badhead, his first short film enrolling his family members as actors at a budget of only 400 $. Such short films, although obtaining no distribution, received a positive public response and lead Rodriguez to offer himself as a guinea pig for such experiments with the aim of collecting some money. And so, with a 7000 $ budget, Rodriguez will produce his first real feature film: El Mariachi.
The result is surprising. Not only does Mariachi manage to compete and win prizes at numerous important festivals, including Sundance, it also manages to immediately become a cult movie for its very strong personality and relative to the period (1992) revolutionary approach. It’s not, however, Rodriguez’s habit to spread on his laurels to celebrate his first international success, he will indeed immediately start working on a new project releasing Four Rooms in 1994, its a choral work seeing the collaboration of four directors: Rodriguez, Tarantino, Anderson, and Rockwell. Due to this work’s screening success, the Mexican filmmaker will able to attract a substantial investment for his next film, Desperado, which comes out in 1995, just one year later. This second feature is, however, nothing more than an expensive version of Mariachi shot with an exceptional cast formed by Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, who owe their international fame to the extraordinary visibility this film gave them.
It is precisely in the years Rodriguez had been working with Tarantino that in 1996 From Dusk till Dawn came out with Pulp Fiction’s director acting side by side with George Clooney as co-protagonist. Having already glimpsed the bloody, fun and shameless approach of previous works this third opera will show a perfect balance destined to upset millions of spectators. From Dusk to Dawn has elements from a 70s Gangsters movie fused in a fantasy-horror universe spiced with an abundant share of blood, amputations and a very strong grotesque charge.
With the years going by, Rodriguez gets involved in increasingly large productions giving birth to works like the saga of Spy Kids and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, a tribute to Sergio Leone where the affairs of a ruthless Mariachi played by Antonio Banderas and flanked by Hayek and Johnny Depp are played.
Rodriguez’s celebration arrives in 2005 when Sin City comes out in cinemas, a work based on Frank Miller‘s graphic novel, which seems cut out for the director’s cinematic vision. The story, set in a smoky and gray metropolis of sin, follows the events of various characters who see their fates culminate in a blood and violence whirlwind and narrated in a contrasting black and white where the only color is the vivid red of blood. Sin City immediately finds the public’s response despite having originated from a much loved comic strip. So much so that a few years later Rodriguez will be up for the second chapter’s realization. This work also includes Tarantino’s participation with the shooting of a chase scene which remains in film history annals. 2007 is the year of a new collaboration with Rodriguez’s friend Quentin.
The bloody duo create Grindhouse (Planet Terror and Deathproof), a couple of films that find their inspiration in the early exploitation movies, which were just projected in the Grindhouse (a squalid cinema dedicated to exclusively show pornographic and B- movies). In Planet Terror, Rodriguez’s enthusiasm behind the camera is palpable. We witness scenes on the edge of grievous dementia but without ever neglecting blood, death and many beautiful and prosperous women. From this moment on Rodriguez becomes an icon. His love for B-movies is undeniable and around him he has created a circle of the genre’s real fans. It is in this climate of excesses that Machete enters the field. Machete is nothing more than the development of the fake initial trailer that we see in Plant Terror and follows the story of Danny Trejo, a federal agent poised to shred the entire Mexican cartel with machetes. The film is presented in Venice and given immense success, a sequel is commissioned immediately
In the following years, Rodriguez concentrates on sequels including Sin City 2 and Spy Kids 4 until today. In these days, his last effort, Alita: Battle Angel, set in a dystopian future populated by destructive cyborgs is in theaters worldwide. This last work screenplay and production is signed by nothing less than James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator, Avatar, etc.)
Rodriguez is certainly not a director loved by everyone, someone may find him sickly sweet, others childish, but it is undeniable his work has shaped the concept of contemporary authorial entertainment cinema, always remaining faithful to his ideals without ever betraying his art for money. And this is not new.
