Midweek Mention... Nacho Libre

Nacho Libre

Sidey: Ding ding, seconds out round one

Reegs: second to hell. Yeah

Sidey: I hadn't

seen Nacho Libre before. No.

Dan: I hadn't seen it before.

Sidey: Cause I think when it came out, I think it maybe got panned a bit. So I think I thought, whoa, I won't bother then.

Reegs: bother then. We all

Sidey: We all remember how much Chris enjoyed the previous Jared Hess offering.

Reegs: Yeah, I sadly didn't see it this time

Dan: What, what was the Jared Hess of

last?

Sidey: Dynamite. Ah,

Dan: Ah, right, okay, so this is the same director. And

Reegs: it shares some of the same sort of, you know, that kind of Wes Anderson style static composition and that like weird extended sense of humor in some, you know,

Dan: Yeah. It is a strange style, isn't it? It's almost like documentary, but not quite.

It's

Reegs: always tales of sort of misfits and social outcasts and that sort of thing. And this one maybe takes place in the seventies cause you know, with technology and all that, or possibly Australia yeah. So, and it's Jack Black. It's a Jack Black vehicle. Yeah. Yeah. And it starts with some panpipe music and a Bible, which inserted into it is a picture of a masked wrestler, a luchador.

And and then we see a hand steal like a necklace and a poncho and some gravel from the bottom of a fish tank, I think, to make a sort of wrestler's outfit.

Sidey: Yeah and then he's wearing it.

Reegs: Yeah. It's Ignacio and ever since he was a boy he wanted to be a wrestler. And we see him living in a monastery working as a chef.

Sidey: Yeah, he is an orphan and at first he's just in the orphanage. And then he's cooking in the orphanage, but he's stripped of his homemade costume, given a literal and

metaphorical dressing down and told to get back to work.

These are all very devout.

Dan: Yeah, they say it's quite a strict lot.

Sidey: Yeah.

Reegs: So one day Sister Encarnacion

Sidey: It's just absolutely amazing

Reegs: up and he's smitten.

Absolutely smitten, isn't he, Jack Black?

Sidey: we see what he's cooking first and it's this wretched sort of I don't know refried beans sort

Reegs: Yeah. Slop.

Sidey: slop. And then they're living in effective squalor.

There's no money in the Orphanage, but they've got to do God's work So they're cracking on as best they can and he seems to get chewed out quite a lot for the shit quality of the food yeah, i'm sure what he's supposed to actually have done about it, but There we are

Dan: cook with the ingredients you've got.

Sidey: Yeah But he does have a connec well, he's very smitten with her, like you say, recently.

I mean, she's, like, stunningly

Reegs: She's absolutely beautiful and straight away

Dan: But she's a nun,

Reegs: she's a nun. Yeah. And the other guy I dunno the other friar, but he's slightly above him. Like, oh, sends him off to go and read the last ro. He doesn't realize he's gonna have to do the last rights to this guy. Anyway, he's sent off to go and collect tortilla chips. This is what starts driving the movie from for the orphans in town.

And while he collects them, he's mugged and loses them by a mugger named Steve. And on the way home, I think he meets a golden masked celeb luchador who turned out to be Ramsey. He's got everything that Ignacio wants. And he sees that there's a grand tournament worth 200 pesos. And he, you know, comes up with the idea of entering that so that he can replace the tortilla chips that have been stolen from the

Dan: Okay.

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: So he's he's got a mission now.

Reegs: Yeah. So, he goes off to meet Sister Encarnacion, which is where he starts telling his story that he's the son of a Scandinavian Lutheran missionary and a Mexican deacon, and they tried to convert each other but then they got married instead and then both of them died.

I can't remember how I Ignacio was, was young. So that's how he ended up coming to live at the monastery. Yeah.

And not able to pursue his passion of wrestling.

Sidey: Yeah and he's telling this to the sister.

Reegs: She tells him it's ungodly, his quest to be a wrestler.

Sidey: Yeah, but at one point she does, I think, put her hand on him and he gets like, Oh, I've never had this before. And it's like, have to really emphasize just how attractive she is. Everyone else in it is kind of dowdy and

Dan: who,

Sidey: kind of funny looking.

Dan: name?

Do we know?

Sidey: Anna

Della Reguera.

Dan: Right. Okay. She

Reegs: odd. I don't

Sidey: I don't know that I've seen her in anything else. It's just

Reegs: a kind of Penelope Cruz vibe.

Sidey: I forget

the lady who was in Baby Driver looks sort of a little bit like her as well. Elise Gonzales, I think that was. But yeah, she's strikingly beautiful.

Evan Alice is kind of funny looking

Reegs: funny looking. Napoleon Bonaparte. Yeah, sort of. Kind Right. So,

Dan: of vibe.

Reegs: he's, he's,

Dan: so he's, he's, he's on a mission now to become a wrestler.

Reegs: Yeah, and he's propelled into it as well. Like you say, the food's not going down well. One guy says, I've had diarrhoea since Easter

as a result of his food. And he thinks he might not be cut out for this life. And then heads back to the alley where he was mugged to throw a load of chips on the ground in the hope of enticing the mugger who got him.

The first time to come back so he can get him to be his tag team partner in the luchador fighting competition. So this will turn out to be Steve. Who's an, a strong atheist and believer in science. But he's also kind of like, you know, a homeless, like beggar wearing like rags

Sidey: They call him Skeleton or something?

Reegs: skeletal or something.

It's skeletal.

Sidey: Skeletor, that's it, yeah. So it, it, like, he does eventually, I think they have a little bit of a rumble again, don't they? Yeah. And he convinces him to well he doesn't want to be his tag partner, he's just like, no. He said, bah. You know, if you do that

Reegs: The glory

Sidey: get on well, we get 200 pesos and he's straight away.

He's like, yep. I mean,

Reegs: 200 pesos is big, big money. Yeah. So they, they do some, we get, we get so Chancho is like this little fat kid who helps Jack Black at the orphanage.

He's quite good, gets his shit together and he's got a costume. And then we get a training montage, which involves like firing melons out of a catapult at each other and smearing cow shit in their

Sidey: I don't know what that was supposed to mean.

Reegs: dunno, either. At one point he's a matador and gets like hideously gored by a bull. And he shot, puts a wasp

Sidey: in his

Reegs: is, maybe, it's quite funny as well. So we get to fight night and it's like a big, loud affair. And then until our heroes are introduced

Dan: mud wrestling?

Reegs: no, it's,

Sidey: as you'd expect it's the normal kind of wrestling

Dan: clean fight.

Sidey: It's it's small town mexican crowds, you know, this is like an event in the town. They all turn up for it probably gamble on it

Reegs: Well, later when they have a tournament, he says the seven biggest men in town, maybe the world will be here. . She's amazing.

Sidey: And they're fighting these two kind of Like posh looking dudes.

Reegs: Yeah. This, yeah. Leotard did. Yeah. They've got leotards and big mustaches, haven't

Sidey: And they take a bit of a beating The fight's pretty entertaining, they end up on the losing side, but the guy, the promoter comes in, hands him an envelope of cash, he's like, actually the crowd really liked you, really enjoyed it, so if you come back again

Reegs: you, come back again Because he does have

Sidey: name while I ripped my blouse?

Because he does have to keep his identity secret, so he's got the mask.

Dan: Because he doesn't want anyone to know at the

church

Sidey: sin, it's a sin for him to be doing this. So he has to keep it, it'll shturm. So then they,

Reegs: a load of money and he's able to buy like fresh food for the, he serves them all a salad. This

Sidey: the different faces and stuff.

Reegs: That there's no salad. So he serves him a salad and all

Sidey: They all get a dish and he's put like a smiley face or he's created a character out of potato and then it gets to the sister whatever name it is she's got this enormous bowl of salad and he puts all the dressing on hers he's so into her

Reegs: He becomes concerned that Steve, the atheist, hasn't been baptised, so he does a stealth baptising on him, doesn't he? While he's sort of not looking, holds his face. Anyway, there's some more fighting, the fighting's quite good,

Sidey: There's two, there's two scary like midget people.

Reegs: they're like mini, they're dressed as like mini

Sidey: Scary Ewoks I would

Pummel them.

Reegs: they beat the shit out of them. There's many proper wrestling moves, hurricane runners, which is that one where you put their legs around their head and you like spin them

Sidey: yeah.

Reegs: And one of the little guys is like thrown into the audience and then the audience throw him back and all this

Sidey: then the audience throw him back. And also

Reegs: it starts to go to his head a bit as well. Instead of buying pork for them, he buys some new boots that he has to hide, but he's wearing underneath these cloisters. Is that

Dan: So this is a true

story

Sidey: is?

So

Reegs: Oh, it is actually based on a true

Sidey: a true story? Oh it is actually based on a true story

He's like, no, I need to get better. I want to win. And then his mate Stephen's like, Oh, I know this guy who knows how to get eagles eggs. Yeah. And that's Peter stormer. So I saw his name in the credits. I went seeking a shot. And he's this like fucking maniac con man, I think.

And he's takes him out on his boat. He's like, well, you need to climb up this cliff. And up there, the eagle's egg, you need to bash it open and just drink it straight down. So, so he does and it's this fucking enormous sheer cliff and it's like comedy. He's got to the top and there's this giant egg and he bashes it, he spills it all over his face and it looks absolutely revolting.

Then he jumps back in and so he, he believes now that he will have the power of the eagle

the next time they fight. So his confidence is high.

Reegs: But

next his confidence is high and he goes into a match. In fact, it's a series of matches and he loses them all against many teams, team of ladies. It's a pair of guys who whip them mercilessly with belts.

Sidey: I thought that seemed to be a rule infraction. But

Reegs: Yeah, so tired of losing he decides to seek advice from that golden masked luchador he'd seen at the beginning, Ramses And he sees him in the streets But we've you know, his dreams are shattered a little bit because when he meets Ramses he's a twat

Sidey: twat.

He's a piece of shit Yeah, he pushes him over.

Reegs: He's one of the kids wants an autograph and he doesn't want to do it. And later there's a party that Ramsey's manager's having and they have to, they sneak in in their various ways, him and Steve. 'cause they wanna get closer to, Ramsey's. Jack Black has to sneak in as part of the Mexican marching band.

Sidey: band. Yeah, because he's always wearing a mask, so they won't let him in because they don't know who he is. It's a wrestler's party, and they're like, no, we're wrestlers, we can go. But he can't get in, so yeah, he does have

Reegs: They're not invited as well because the other guy has to like somersault

Sidey: Right, that's right, yeah, he does.

Reegs: tall and fast like a gazelle. Yeah, he gets, He gets

in and they, they have this kind of confrontation after Jack Black has to sing this awkward song. And then there's, yeah. Oh, did he? And there's also a scene where Steve is accosted by this giant woman who wants to have sex

Sidey: with him.

Reegs: She comes through holes in the wall. It's really bizarre. And anyway Ramsey throws wine over him, doesn't he, and he's shamed out of there. So his hero has turned out to be worthless piece of shit. That's it,

Dan: Soft in the way, isn't it?

Reegs: And

Sidey: meet your heroes. He's

Reegs: had consequences. He's neglected his duties at the orphanage.

The

Sidey: He hasn't cooked breakfast, has

he

Reegs: And Nacho and Steve's partnership, like they take their frustrations out on each other, don't they? And they end it. Steve says he hates orphans, which is the final straw, I would say.

Sidey: I don't think he meant it. Yeah, I think he's just lashing out but He goes to there's a like we get a scene in the church and then the chapel where he's Ignacio's coming forward with a big candle and he's lighting one of these ceremonial things at the altar where the fuck is and while he's praying which I think he's praying just to become better at wrestling if I remember rightly the candle falls over He doesn't realize but it's burning his tunic so he's doing his big thing and then he sort of smells what's that and then he's on fire It's quite effective actually and as he runs out the people are going just roll over you idiot roll over And as he rolls you realize His tune is gone and he's been wearing his wrestling gear underneath trying to hide it.

So

Reegs: he's exposed to the monastery

Sidey: they all clock it and like she's disgusted. She's really disappointed because she has

Reegs: a few conversations about how it's not right to do this stuff and you, you can't wrestle for, for glory.

And he says, what if I wrestle for something else?

Sidey: got to have a purpose or a you know it's got to be for the greater good all that sort of shit but she's really she's disappointed in him.

They, they did have a like, I don't think a romantic connection, not in her eyes anyway, but she did, they did, she did respect him and, and like him, and fucked it, yeah.

Reegs: But his secret is exposed, although one guy doesn't know, even know who he is. But,

Dan: although

Reegs: the head guy.

Dan: doesn't even know who he is.

No.

Sidey: bad?

No.

Reegs: No. No, never. Me

Dan: fight

Reegs: So anyway, he has to fight in the tournament. The seven strongest men in Mexico, maybe the world.

And he's going to win the money and he's going to use it to buy a bus for the kids so that they can go on day trips. That's his big dream. So, we get a little montage of the wrestlers he'll be fighting, which includes Steve, and it's a big battle royale affair with chairs and smashing people with shit, and there's one guy, all in black, Silencio, who wins.

He beats the shit out of everybody. So a disgraced Nacho heads back to the monastery where he's been beaten up. And sent to live in the wilderness, probably to die. Chancho gives him his lucky machete and off they go. And we get some scenes of him, like, surviving in the desert, building a crude house out of twigs, drinking from a

Dan: and that's it.

Reegs: Hang on, no. Some time passes and then Steve comes to see him and it's actually he's just standing yards from the village. It's like that real classic gag where you see him doing that, like there's some little girl like waving really close to him. Anyway Steve got really moody and injured Silencio and drove over his foot because he saw him being rude to orphans.

So.

Sidey: Yeah

Reegs: Now he's out of the fight. He can't fight Ramsey, so as the second place in the competition, Jack Black can.

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: So it's on for the big title

Sidey: fight.

It's a, it's a big mismatch, Dan.

happen. I was worried.

Dan: Yeah. He's never won a fight.

Sidey: No. And this guy's fucking huge.

Reegs: huge. He's a real wrestler as well. I've got his name somewhere later.

So he drops off a little love letter basically to Sister Encarnacion explaining his plan.

Sidey: PS.

Reegs: Yeah. Yeah.

And then he goes Ramses.

Sidey: Yeah. got the big finale.

Reegs: Yeah. So he does quite well initially and then he just gets the shit kicked out of him. He has his luchador mask taken off, which is like a big no, no in wrestling. So he has his face

Dan: unveiled. Yeah, exposed. And

Reegs: at that moment, just as it looks like he's about to give up, he's in a submission thing or whatever.

Encarnacion arrives with some of the

Sidey: Yeah, they're there, and

Reegs: cheer him

Dan: off. Oh my Lord, that's gotta give him some energy.

Reegs: It gives him the energy and he ends up throwing him out the ring and then he does the, like, the eagle dive

Sidey: the eagle,

Reegs: from the

Sidey: comes true And it does the eagle noise as he jumps off the top ropes And he flies

Reegs: see him in like super slow mo like going really far. Yeah. And he takes down Ramsey's and he becomes the champion and that's it. He uses his money to buy the bus for the field trip.

Like he said, he would. And I think that the film closes with them on a little field trip and a little hint that there may be something other than God in their relationship. between him. Yeah.

Dan: So I didn't get to watch this, but Are you glad you did?

Reegs: Yeah, I'd seen this before, so I knew I enjoyed it the first time round.

If you don't like Jared Hess and his style, you're

Sidey: gonna Yeah. It like, so Chris would've fucking hated this. Absolutely. No doubt. It's stylistically an aesthetic, although it is in a different place, but still it's kind of in the wilderness.

Very, very reminiscent like. It's Napoleon Dynamite

Dan: just with different

Sidey: flip. So if you didn't enjoy that, the story is different. But if you didn't enjoy the humor and that, and the way it's presented, then you will not like this. There's not much

Dan: but you

Sidey: but I did like that. So I did enjoy this. It was good.

Reegs: And

it is loosely based on a true story, the story of Frey Tormentor, a real life Mexican Catholic priest who had a 23 year career as a masked lucha door to support the orphanage he directed.

So, wow. That is pretty

Dan: That is a nice story, isn't it?

Reegs: Um well.

Sidey: Well, there's a story about the soundtrack because Jared Hess wanted Beck to do the

Reegs: soundtrack.

Sidey: And the studio said no. So they got

Dan: studios are

Sidey: Guy Danny Elfberg, Elfman, Elfman, the Elfman got to do it. And Jared has pushed back. It's like, no, I fucking want like Beckett. And so there was this toing and froing and they came to a compromise agreement. And then they fucking wouldn't put Beck's name as credit.

So there's a whole, there are some Beck songs in the, in the soundtrack. As it was eventually.

Dan: Released

Sidey: released with the joint, but one of the, somewhere where it was released it didn't have beckoning, so we're still a bit disgruntled goat about that. But still seemed fairly unnecessary.

Dan: and I'd also read this was I mean it was quite the

you know, Diversive this film or divisive even

Reegs: Yeah, people hated it, I think,

Dan: But not everybody some people I read online thought it was the best film ever. Certainly the best ever wrestling

Sidey: you know, copy paste on us

done basically exactly the same thing. So that might put you off, but I would say give it a go because I really enjoyed it.

Reegs: I'd say the wrestling scenes were pretty good.

Sidey: especially the two little scary walks.

Reegs: Yeah. All of them were directed with a good, you know, a decent amount of flair. Like, almost like, you know, a proper wrestling contest, which is, you know, quite different from, from Napoleon Dynamite in that respect.

Dan: Right.

Sidey: budget

for it was 35, 000. Seems quite a lot, but it was all filmed on location, which probably pushed it up. And it made 99, 000.

Dan: Okay.

Reegs: So, it's a bit.

Sidey: made a bit of cash.

Dan: made a, yeah.

Sidey: Has it done out since, Jared Hesse?

Reegs: I don't know.

About Jack Black, he's got himself into trouble. During production of the film, Jack Black's PSP was stolen.

And the entire film crew had to go on lockdown. To look for it. So that's an interesting bit of

Dan: stole his video game

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: Yeah.

Well, I will maybe check this out. I will see how it goes. I must admit from the trailer I saw quickly it, it wasn't one of those that, that kind of pulled me in with this style, but after listening to you two, then I may be have my mind changed. What have you got there for his

Sidey: this? It has done other movies. So Napoleon and Natchez were his first two, then gentlemen Broncos. Don Verdeen, Masterminds, Thelma the Unicorn, and a Minecraft movie is in post production.

Dan: Okay. Well, we'll see what happens next. But strong recommend.

Reegs: Yeah. Orphans.