‘Going Varsity in Mariachi’ Review: Netflix Doc Follows Texas Teenagers Through the Ups and Downs of Statewide Band Competitions
variety.comJoe Leydon Film Critic After a lengthy and well-received run on the festival circuit, “Going Varsity in Mariachi” has arrived this week on Netflix, where it should find the wide mainstream audience it deserves.
And “mainstream” really is the operative word here. Although it may sound in synopsis like a niche-audience attraction, 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.
As the opening titles succinctly explain: In Texas, where football usually tends to dominate any discussion about spirited rivalries between high schools, over 100 public schools also field competitive mariachi teams in the hopes of winning the state championship.
Most of the premier teams, we’re told, hail from the Rio Grande Valley — specifically, a closely connected group of towns along the US-Mexican border.
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