Baadasssss!

Aw, damn. We can't make fun of Mario Van Peebles anymore. Always something of a laughing stock (despite a few good contributions, like a good performance in "Ali" and directing "New Jack City"), Mario Van Peebles has made himself instantly much cooler by making this fun and suitably chaotic film, which chronicles the making of his father Melvin's landmark film "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song".

I've never seen that film, but from what I understand it's not exactly great, but was revolutionary for existing at all. It's about a black man "taking it to the man" and actually getting away with it, which was unheard of at the time.

Mario plays his own father, and "Baadasssss!" certainly doesn't candy-coat it. Melvin was essentially a good man, but could be incredibly cold and mean, and to his own family, and the film shows that. It also takes us back to the notorious scene in "Sweetback" where Melvin used his own 13 year-old son in the scene where the the titular character loses his virginity. This scene was difficult and uncomfortable for everyone involved, EXCEPT Melvin, which is telling.

The movie is swiftly paced and stylish, but I couldn't help feeling that it could be a little better. It feels a little messy and disorganized at times. Still, good stuff.

"Baadasssss!" beats out Truffaut's "Day For Night" as the greatest movie ever made about the movie business. What Mario Van Peebles does here is nothing short of extraordinary: he manages to inform the viewer about independent film-making while also incorporating an enthralling portrayal of a man obsessed by his unique version of the American dream.

Like "Adaptation", the film is a dizzying array of comedy, satire, family drama, and a little bit of Freudian psychology. Van Peebles, casting himself as his father, obviously doesn't glorify the production, but tells the story of the making of "Sweetback" in a low-key and understandable manner. He doesn't make his father a hero or a villain but rather a man pushed to his limits. The backstage antics are sometimes funny, but more often are simply incredible to believe. Van Peebles' daring use of "American Splendor"-like documentary transitions are also wonderfully effective.

It must be said that I have not seen "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" and it's hard to fathom that this film would actually be better upon after viewing it (I'm not suggesting that I won't look for the film next time I'm at the video store). Like its subject, "Baadasssss!" is a revolutionary film, and should not be limited to film buffs or fans of Mario Van Peebles; this is a movie any casual film-goer would thoroughly enjoy.

I can't begin to say how great this film is, and how much it meant to me. I'm not a big fan of some of Mario Van Peebles' work, so to me, this is by far his best job, acting and directing. He captured the power and the struggle of fighting for a dream/vision, and he made the audience take the journey with him. In fact, this film renewed by interest in the original "Sweetback ..." and made me appreciate the original film to a much greater degree. I saw this film on it's opening weekend, and I pre-ordered it as soon as I found out it was coming to DVD.

Essentially, Mario plays Melvin (his father) while he was creating the independent film classic, 'Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song'. We watch as Van Peebles struggles with family, "the man" and his own personal demons to complete a film that, by all industry models, should not have been made. It was black, sexual, political, and there was barely enough money to get it off the ground. But Van Peebles was a bad mother{watch your mouth}, and he was determined to make it anyway.

If you are a filmmaker, put this film in your "must see" list. If you are struggling to build a business, follow a path less traveled, or go for any dream that seems almost out of reach, this film is also a must see for you. And, if you just want to see the power of passion, and see what a person can do on too little budget with too little time when all he has to make up for the deficit is his heart, see this film! (That last comment was about Mario, but it is also apropos for Melvin, the subject of this film).

There is nudity and strong language in the film. I mention that because I wouldn't want to send anyone to a film that might offend them without forewarning. That said, see this film!

I had been putting off seeing this, and then was pleasantly surprised.

I didn't know much about Mario Van Peebles, nor of his father ("Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song" came out 2 years before I was born) but after seeing this homage to Mr. Van Peebles and seeing how much he risked - everything from finances to his family and his own health, for his dream of "the world" to really see life from the African American point of view, the way it really is, is well impressive to say the least.

The unimaginable struggle, the pressure and the sheer will that Mario portrays in his father is a touching tribute. Mario reveals his father's motives for making "Sweetback" in a moving and heartfelt way, documenting how Hollywood portrayed races other than white - if you are not white, then you are the white man's servant - how at that time - no one and no other film had film portrayed a Black Man as a hero or the struggles that he or any other race faces. It is a tale that is bigger than him and despite the risk and struggle, he fights to tell it. This is a fitting homage to a pioneer of a Genre and a Father.

"Baadasssss!" It also depicts the rugged world of guerrilla film-making and the rabid fight involved in making an indie film from inception to distribution. After seeing this I take a much greater heed of the Van Peebles Name, "Baadasssss!" is worthy film as a Drama in its own right, an Homage to a Pioneer and Father and as a Documenty Tribute to a Piece of Film History.

There have been many movies, usually bittersweet comedies, about movie-making with the director as the put-upon ringmaster of eccentrics, like Truffaut's "Day for Night" or "Living in Oblivion," or bio-pics that show the director as eccentric visionary, like "Ed Wood" or "Matinee."

But I think "Baadasssss!" is one of very few to show the filmmaker as a driven artist, more comparable to the intense look at a ground-breaking creator like "Pollock."

Writer/director/producer Mario Van Peebles eerily reenacts how his father Melvin wrote/directed/produced the seminal "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song," one of the first indie movies that also virtually created the potent blaxpoitation genre and guerrilla moviemaking; I thought I had seen it back in '71, but as soon as this film started I realized my memory was, embarrassingly, confusing it with Robert Downey Sr.'s "Putney Swope," so now I do need to see the original.

The production design, including costumes and hair styles, exquisitely recreates the era, but the editing and cinematography suck us even further into Melvin's head as he incisively surveys the state of the image of blacks in movies up to that time and story boards his response.

Melvin's obsession to create and complete the film according to his vision and on his terms threatens his health and his personal and business relationships, but we are caught up in his whirlwind and root for him no matter how ruthless and prickly he becomes as the odds get ever longer and more frustrating and he refuses to compromise, taking offense at lame, well-meaning suggestions, for example, that he might get further if he would at least smile. But he everywhere, rightly or overly sensitively, only sees racism and condescension, including when he has to part layers of irony to beg Bill Cosby for help.

Recalling the spirit of Werner Herzog's documentary "My Best Fiend" about his tortured collaboration with Klaus Kinski to portray obsessives in "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre: The Wrath of God," Mario adds layers of Freudian issues as this filial tribute unflinchingly includes the father's treatment of the son on set and off in the original film and unsparingly brings to life everyone around them.

Mario effectively borrows other bio-pic techniques, such as the camera-facing interviewees in "Reds," first by their portrayers, then, next to the closing credits, the real people, concluding with a loving portrait of his father.

Contrary to the original film, which boosted the careers of the fledging Earth, Wind, and Fire, the soundtrack instrumentation here is surprisingly traditional and sentimental.

The Portrait of the Artist can rarely be a Portrait of a Nice Guy and "Baadasssss!" beautifully and honestly shows why.