Red 11

This is less an isolated indie flick, but more an inspirational creative journey. Robert Rodriguez goes back to his roots, making a movie on a dime with the simplest means possible to show, what can be done, with just a few thousand bucks. The messages is clear: if you want to create, start with what you got.

Rodrigues therefore revisits memories from his time as being a lab rat to get enough money to fund his first movie "El Mariachi" as the base scenario for this small Twilight Zone like episode.

For me it worked best being watched with the acompaning series "a rebel without a crew - the robert rodriguez filmschool". Generally I would recommend this movie to all inspiring creatives, who wants to get started on their creative journey.

Given the fact that this movie was made for $7,000 dollars as a way to show the viewer how they can make a low budget movie, it's quite good. The entire movie is very tongue in cheek, a fact that seems to be missed by the (I'm guessing) Millennial viewers.

The movie is meant to be paired with the Robert Rodriguez Film School series of videos. Still, the movie stands on its on as enjoyable low budget fun. The acting, story and production are good enough to the carry the film. It has a good twist and a satisfying ending. You won't feel ripped off for sitting through the very quick, under an hour and a half run time. If you're an aspiring film maker you may find it inspiring!

This is a pretty great movie with a sick plot twist. It doesn't deserve rating below 5! What's wrong with you people?! I've seen much much worse movie. They have no sense, no decent plot, no story line, and none of the actors can act. Those kind of movies you rate below 5. Not a movie like this. Watch it to the end before you give harsh rating. And maybe I should remind you that this is a low budgeted movie? Can you imagine what Robert Rodriguez can make with some serious budget? No you can't!

Knowing that this was made with under $7,000 budget made it worth while. Very creative with angles, shading/lighting, zoom, handheld vs stable cam, etc. You need to know the why for making this film to appreciate it... Also loved the "Score" character with his digital keyboard.

Back then it was fairly well known that Rodriguez's first movie, 'El Mariachi' in 1992, when he was only 24. I will not repeat that he made it for only $7000. In today's money that would be almost $15,000, still a small amount for a feature film, and a very good one at that. I really like 'El Mariachi.'

This movie, "Red 11", might be based on how he earned that $7000, I'm not sure. He enters a medical test group sorted by colors of the shirt they are assigned, his is red and he is number 11. He is "Red 11". But as this fictional story unfolds things get stranger and stranger. Too strange often.

I considered abandoning this, free on streaming, at about the half-way point but persisted because in general I really like some of his movies. Spy Kids and Sin City are a couple. But as he has gotten older his movies have gotten stranger, like Machete (which I rate '4') and a few others.

I can't rate 'Red 11' very highly, it just isn't that good a story even though there is a 'twist' reveal at the end. I found myself thinking "so what?" A nice experiment and perhaps really good to illustrate some film school film-making points, but for the general audience I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone I know.