A Day Without a Mexican

Altogether I found A DAY WITHOUT A Mexican to be highly entertaining - I would've hoped for something of the caliber of DO THE RIGHT THING or BLAZING SADDLES, and this is definitely not up to those standards, but as independent films go, this one definitely beats a lot of the competition.

Basically a b-movie, sci-fi spoof with a lot of social commentary thrown in, I found A DAY... to be a bit didactic in places - the interrupting statistics were highly unnecessary and nearly destroyed the energy in an otherwise fine film. But I think one's ultimate take on this film will come down to ones' politics - I agree with those expressed in the film, so - while I found the film to be hammering its' points a bit harder than it should (not all Americans are THAT ignorant of the rest of the world), overall I considered it to be fun and provocative.

I have seen tons of indie films, and - just in that I was actually able to watch this one all the way through - this one manages to be quite good. Film shouldn't just be about explosions, or wallowing in some hipster's fantasy of 'the underground,' or dream sequences with midgets, or boring white 20somethings screwing around - a film that tries to engage with the world is a real breath of fresh air every now and then.

I just finished watching A Day Without a Mexican, so my comments are fresh.

As some other reviewers have mentioned, this film had the potential to be much more in terms of social commentary. The fact that it went in a comedic direction isn't bad in itself, it's just the execution of everything seemed so flawed.

There were chances to make statements, and to be relevant; one can still do that while still being funny. It's just -- I never laughed during the entire film, and I never felt as if any point was driven home, so it failed both goals.

I won't call this a bad film, but it's certainly not worth the $4 rental fee. If it shows up on TV for free, go ahead and watch it, otherwise find something else to spend your money on. Stereotypes can be used to convey a serious message (see Hollywood Shuffle), however I'm not sure what this film's message really was. Was it that Mexicans are a cheap economic revenue? That they're our maids, and token love interests?

As for bad acting, I can get over that. The problem is with the script. The initial idea sounds great, but the initial idea needs followed up with original and clever thought; that's where this film went downhill quickly.

This film got it's press from the "inflammatory" title, but the ad campaign was aimed to put your butt in the movie seat, and it worked for this micro-budget movie... it ended up with a profit in Los Angeles alone. This was quite clever because the film got a much larger audience than it would have received otherwise, regardless of anyone's personal feelings. The ads were done so that any reasonably intelligent person could see the tongue-in-cheek manner in which the ad campaign was carried out, and those who couldn't, well... they'd probably go see the movie just so they could be even more angry.

So I went to see the movie, not so much because of the controversy, but to see how good a film had been put together. I was really disappointed. For as clever a campaign had been crafted to get people to see their movie, the filmmakers failed miserably at keeping them interested.

The storyline is not too terribly involving, and the "morality tale" message is really beat into your head with a hammer from the first minute all the way to the end. The acting is amateurish... it had a very distinct high school film project look and feel to it, and although I'm no stranger to low budget films... this one really looked bad. The film quality was so terribly grainy that it was distracting, and the attempts at "visual effects" even moreso. I would have been more impressed and they would have saved a few bucks if they'd left them out.

The coup d'etat... I fell asleep. And I had really wanted to like this movie... I went in having a really good feeling about it.

The film would probably have made a great half hour after school special or educational video, with all of the boring and tedious plot left out and all of the interesting factoids about the Mexican contribution to American culture left in. I know many of my Mexican friends who saw it got a kick out of some of the cultural in-jokes in the movie, but almost across the board they agree with me that the movie wasn't very good.

So there you go. If you have a burning desire to learn some fairly obvious facts about Mexican culture in California, jump right in. My feeling is that people who are ignorant to the information put forward in the film are probably not inclined to care or want to know anyway... but there's never any harm in trying to get the word out. All minorities in the U.S. have historically been mistreated and maligned, and if one were really inclined to learn some perspective about American treatment of Mexicans, Indians, Blacks, Asians... I would suggest a read of 'A People's History of the United States' by Howard Zinn. NOW THAT'S AN EYE OPENER.

There are times when you just have to take a movie for what it is- a movie. Instead of worrying about racism and social commentary-enjoy the idea of the movie. I liked the movie as a whole because it had an original idea for a script. It gives you an idea of what an important role each of us plays in this big old world we live in. At the very least, the music can be appreciated. It was diverse, appropriate, and fun to listen to. It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but if you've ever lived in Southern California, this movie will make you laugh (at least a couple of times). And if your really lucky, it will also broaden your mind.

This film is a perfect example of a brilliant idea with some poor follow-through. When I watched the preview to this film, I was handed the impression that this would be a documentary of sorts filled with potent information and life-changing ideas. I will be the first to say that the marketing of this film misled me. What I actually found when I started this film was instead a movie, filled with shallow characters, horrible acting, and clichéd moments. The only redeemable value of this film was the brief interruptions throughout the film that stop the motion to give us a moment of trivia about the lines from some of the characters. Outside of that, this film imploded into itself. I say this because by the end of the film, I felt that nothing was resolved and the end of the film changed nothing about California. Did anyone else feel that this was still a very hypocritical and racist film? I felt that the purpose of this film directed by Sergio Arau was to bring the Mexican population into a new and blinding light. What I witnessed in A Day Without a Mexican was that all the personal clichés that we assume about them are true, and that without them our economy in this country will fail (especially in California). It did not give a personal touch to the subject, it just reinforced the fact that they are our workers, not our friends or neighbors.

Director Arau had the platform to make an amazing social satire, but ultimately fell short. Why? Let me explain some of the downfalls of this film. The first is the acting. 'C' grade actors reenacting the events of the day that all the Mexicans disappeared is not a good start. There was not one actor or actress in this film that I could say was great to watch. These actors decreased the value and the overall effect of this film. Several times I was so caught up with how bad these actors were delivering their lines that I didn't care about any of the statements that Arau was making. I could have cared less, just get these actors off my screen. The two that stand out in my eyes as the worst were Caroline Aaron playing Aunt Gigi and John Getz (of my favorite film Blood Simple.) as the racist Senator who finds his heart of gold. Both of these performances were laughable. Everything they said and did drew attention away from the actual points of the film, thus decreasing the effects.

Second, it was the production. I kept waiting for two things to occur during this film. One, I felt as if at any time the set was just going to fall apart. The overall cheese factor of the production limited my excitement for this film. It reminded me of a child's drawing that you laminate. It may have that glossy look, but what's inside is just scribbles. Second, and I am serious here, I kept thinking that this was going to turn into a soft-core porn. It had the acting, the production, and even the sounds of a soft-core porn … so where was it? I think this accurately describes the feeling you have as you watch this movie. It is not pretty in any way.

Third, let's talk about the music. I wouldn't have minded some influential Mexican music being played throughout the film to set the scene and to place the emotion, but instead what I found were horrible covers of American music about California. It was pathetic. The tone of this film was ruined. A Day Without A Mexican was ruined from the beginning, but by this point (when the first song blazed through my stereo) it was forgotten.

Fourth, I mentioned before about how this film fails to successfully bring sympathy and knowledge about the Mexican population in California because it never addresses the clichés and stereotypes. This was a major flaw in this film. I wanted to feel as if they were just like you or me, just wronged by America. This never happened. From the opening scene when one of the actors says that her husband never goes anywhere without his teeth (and it was not addressed, but used as humor) I felt offended. Arau built threw in stereotypes as a form of humor that destroyed his film. Another one was the entire bit about the Mexican Files (parody of the X-Files) and the reference between UFOs and aliens towards the sombrero of a Mexican and America calling them 'illegal aliens' was prejudice in my eyes. It was an unfunny joke that continued to drop this film down several notches in my eyes. Couple this with all the references to Jose on the back of the milk carton as missing was just despicable. If an uneducated person watched this film, they would have seen it as a comedy instead of a social commentary on California. Those that argue that the trivia was helpful, it was not. It seemed random and thrown in at the last minute just to counter arguments that the film was becoming too much of a comedy.

Finally, the insanity of the ending is hardly worth mentioning.

Was this a cheesy sci-fi film, or an honest attempt to show the world the power of the Mexican population? Who knows? I don't think one could tell by just watching this film. Arau did a horrible job in creating this film. While I could see where he wanted to go with this picture, he never quite left the driveway. Instead he blew out his tires and ran into the main support of the house. Overall, it was pathetic. This was a horrible film that was marketed to bring in those hoping to see a well-crafted documentary. I felt cheated and lost by the end of this film. I do not suggest that anyone watches the movie or gives their money to this director.

It was a waste of time. This is your Public Service Announcement.

Grade: * out of *****