Going Varsity in Mariachi on Netflix

As I noted in my thumb’s-up Variety review for Going Varsity in Mariachi, this outstanding documentary — now available on Netflix after a well-received run on the festival circuit — might seem like something aimed exclusively at a narrowly defined demographic.

But look closer.

“Although it may sound in synopsis like a niche-audience attraction,” I wrote, “this engaging and entertaining documentary about Texas high-schoolers playing for keeps in statewide mariachi band competitions has the right stuff to delight even viewers who normally wouldn’t know the difference between a grito and a guitarrón.”

Co-directors directors Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez have done a remarkably fine job of getting up-close and personal with members of the student mariachi band Mariachi Oro from Edinburgh North High School, an under-financed institution in a low-income district of the Rio Grand Valley.

Under the guidance of their dedicated (and sometimes demanding) band director Abel Acuña, these teens vie for awards — and the chance to boost their chances for scholarships — during a season when they’re having difficulty coalescing as a unit after losing a few key players, not unlike a football team that has replaced some departed seniors with new recruits. They are underdogs, and they know it. But they’re also determined to contend against better-financed teams that sport flashy attire as well as  impressive musicianship.

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview filmmakers Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez. Here are some highlights from our conversation, edited for length and clarity.

Cowboys & Indians: You actually generate a fair amount of suspense as you follow the mariachi band from Edinburgh North High School through the ups and downs of the competition season. Because there are times when the downs seem really down. Did you ever find yourselves thinking during the production that, hey, maybe we picked the wrong team to follow?

Sam Osborn: Yeah, I think even Abel Acuña, the group director of the ENHS team, would say they weren’t as far as long as they wanted to be. And yeah, we were panicking, because we were thinking, “Can you make a competition film where the team doesn’t win anything?” And actually, all the financiers that we spoke to trying to raise money for the movie were saying under their breath after our pitch things like, “Well, are they going to win? Would it be worth making the movie if they didn’t? No?”

And I think what we decided —  actually, I should say Alex decided it, because I was waffling on whether we should try and include two or three teams through the season. But as Alex said, it’s still a great story. The story is not so much about winning as it is about the kids growing up. And if we can still make it a compelling film without them winning, then that should be the whole point.

Alejandra Vasquez: We definitely had our low points. When the team was having their low points, we were also feeling those low points. But we knew that there was a ladder, a mountain to climb. And that, no matter what was going to happen, even if they didn’t make it to finals, we would just have to change the film, it would be a different film. We had invested so much time and energy into Edinburgh North that, at that point, it felt like if they trust us, and we trust them, let’s trust our gut and trust the story.

Alejandra Vasquez

C&I: Speaking of trust: There are some parts of the film where you achieve an extraordinary fly-on-the-wall intimacy with your subjects — like when the lackadaisical Drake is temporarily kicked out of the band, or when the openly queer girls Mariah and Marlena worry about facing homophobic backlash if they become teachers in Texas. How did you gain their trust so you could record these sensitive moments?

Vasquez: It took us a long time to gain their trust. We started out as a short film, so they already knew us, and they already knew what we were about, and the type of film we wanted to make. But at the beginning of production, Sam and I were flying into locations — we were flying into Edinburgh and spending a week there at a time — and we realized that that wasn’t working. Every time we came back, it was like starting over again, like everybody getting up to speed with being filmed again. So we actually moved to location and we lived in Edinburgh for nine months.

I think it was honestly just like us being there, being in the classroom without cameras or with cameras, and them getting to know us as people as much as we were getting to know them. It was a really long process — it wasn’t an easy process — and for some of the kids, we didn’t get there. And then for others, it just took a long time, it took the buy-in from the family as well.

Osborn: And some of the more intimate scenes, like you mentioned, were filmed really late in the process. Drake having to call home to tell his mom that the coach was kicking him off the team was just a matter of us being there every day, going back to the school every morning and just having a camera with us. And if something happened, we would just press record.

But a lot of times, like the story between Marlena and Mariah that you mentioned, it was something they had talked about for a while. And then before we wrapped, they just started talking about it in the park. And they would only have done that after us being there for seven months. They would never have opened up and started talking with the crew around them beforehand.

C&I: There’s a very funny moment where Acuña tells his band members, “Yeah, they’re making a documentary about you, but don’t get cocky, kids. You didn’t perform well tonight.” Were you expecting that?

Osborn: He actually did something even more fourth wall earlier. I think 12, maybe 15 years ago, PBS made a similar “This is competitive Mariachi” movie, and we hadn’t seen it. In fact, we tried not to see it. But Coach Acuña found it and he showed the movie to the class. And what happens in that movie is, they lose halfway through. And after he showed it, he’s like, “Do you guys want to be that team in the movie they’re making about us? And if not, we've got to get better.” He did it secretly, when the cameras weren’t there. Yeah, he was using the documentary to juice the effort level.

Vasquez: After seeing our film, he was like, “I don't remember saying that.” I remember always trying to not talk about the film or the making of the film, and he’s like, “I can't believe I said that.” [Laughs]  I guess he was just so caught up in the moment.

C&I: What got you involved in making this documentary in the first place? Were you both already big mariachi fans beforehand?

Vasquez: Yes, I was. I grew up listening to the music. My grandpa used to sing a lot of mariachi songs, and it’s definitely the music that I most associate with my family and any celebration or gathering. Whether it’s a birthday party or a wedding, there’s always a mariachi. So at least for me, when I heard that young people were playing this music in a really serious way, and the really serious craftsmanship that went behind it, I was interested. Because, usually, you think of mariachi and you think of older men going to restaurants and playing this music. So just seeing a totally different form of mariachi got me really interested in the story.

Osborn: I have a Mexican-American mother, but this wasn’t really foregrounded growing up. My parents weren’t super into mariachi. But I think what I connected with was how many kids in the group were in my situation, where they were mixed race, hadn’t gotten involved with their culture, and had really taken the step to try and do so. And so a lot of the kids in the class didn’t know Spanish, didn’t know much mariachi, but knew they wanted to get involved in some way. And that connected with my experience a lot.