Well Deserved Praise

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It's 1991, Robert Rodriguez is in his mid-20s and casts a whole bunch of his siblings for his very first movie, a nine-minute short film on a normal brother-sister relationship which takes a turn for the supernatural. It's in black and white just like the majority of his trademark film Sin City roughly 15 years later. When two siblings fight outside the house, the girl falls hard and awakes realizing something happened with her head when her brain hit the ground and all of a sudden she's able to move things with the power of her mind. She uses the newly-acquired ability to go full rampage on her brother and exact her revenge. However, in doing so, she falls again shortly after and may have lost her power again? Or has she?Bedhead is a decent, occasionally funny effort that doesn't really hold a candle to much of what Rodriguez has done afterward though. Actually, I think it's a pretty nice watch for children even, maybe more than for adult, who may find the eating of a cockroach, the girl constantly flying through the air etc. funnier than people our age group. Recommended to Rodriguez completionists, otherwise you can give this one a pass.

The people most likely to be interested in watching this short film would be fans of Robert Rodriguez and thus would watch it looking for Rodriguez-style independent film-making. For those people, they'll get everything they want... fast-paced action, fast-paced camera movement, fun and funny storytelling, and a general sense of know-how often unseen in first-time shorts (and of course that's because it's not really a first-time short... see "Rebel without a Crew").Those who happen to stumble across this film, though, won't have to be well versed in Rodriguez's style (and also, Rodriguez's style isn't a style that is that difficult to be well-versed in). It's still fun and fast-paced and funny. So there you go.It's available on the El Mariachi DVD if anyone's interested in seeing it.--PolarisDiB

You know what is really fun? Choose a director you like, then trace the ideas you like about him back through two paths: the films by others that surely influenced him, and also back through his own earlier work. Like this.I like Rodriguez. I do. I like the risks he takes, his proclivity to experiment, his notion about structure and reference in film. He is not yet on my "absolutely must see this" list but is well represented on the "worth watching" list. The first "Spy Kids," "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," And his entry in "Four Rooms," showed a high degree of what I call folded, selfaware film-making. Spanish, without the prancing pretense of the French.So go back with me to view this homemade short, featuring his kids and home videocam. It is simple, but you can already see his characteristic mix: Simple truths, including appropriate effects done cheaply. A world of magic. A world where children often center the narrative. A world where justice is built into the cosmos.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

A simple eight minute short which manages to demonstrate the unique style Rodriguez would soon become famous for. The special effects were well done, as was the camera work, complete with effective use of a multitude of angles and alternate speeds. The sound effects were also very well done, and I still can't figure out how he did many of them. While not his first film by a longshot (he made 30 other shorts before this, over a period of ten years) this was an obviously low budget production (he used his siblings for the actors). However, it did a brilliant job of showing off his potential, and, along with his first, ultra low budget feature film, he was able to get representation at ICM and became a major player in the Hollywood game.