As an amateur filmmaker myself, I can tell that this is exactly the kind of film that more talented young aspiring filmmakers come up with when they're attempting to break into the movie industry. Robert Rodriguez cuts every corner imaginable, as he also brilliantly did while later shooting El Mariachi, and comes up with a witty and technically impressive short film. The sheer simplicity with which Bedhead was made is perfectly clear from beginning to end, but it is still an impressive and entertaining film, which is a testament to the fact that big budgets do not equal good movies. There are so many people in this world who think that the bigger the budget for a movie is, the better the movie itself is, and that's one of the most foolish things I've ever heard. Listen to the director's commentary for El Mariachi and Rodriguez explains perfectly clearly why this is not at all true, and there are so many filmmakers that need to learn that (yeah that's you, Jerry Bruckheimer).
Rodriguez casts a few members of his immediate family in what looks like a film that could have been carelessly filmed in an afternoon before dinner, but if you've had experience in filmmaking and know what goes into it, it's clear that there was much more put into the film than that and it says something about Rodriguez's filmmaking talent that he was able to make something so complex look so simple.
Bedhead is a very short film but it tells a story, keeps you entertained, and teaches you something about filmmaking all at the same time. It's so refreshing to see a director who cares so much about the medium of film and who wants to spread that knowledge. If you take the time to watch the extra features on the El Mariachi/Desperado DVD, such as the director's commentaries and this short film and the 10 minute film school, it's clear that Rodriguez wants to get rid of a lot of the stupid, unnecessary fluff that's so prevalent in the movies. If there were more directors who made up for filmmaking difficulties with their own creativity, as Rodriguez does, rather than covering their shortcomings with sheer financial purging, the movie industry would be in much better shape right now.
