MisterWhiplash
Melvin Van Peebles, from what I've seen from interviews and from the impression I get of him from Baadasssss!, was not always the most pleasant-natured guy, and loaded with attitude, but then how could he be, or couldn't be? Here's a man who had some clout following a moderately successful movie, Watermelon Man, and suddenly found himself in the cross-hairs of artistic and commercial perspectives: to make a full-on, unadulterated representation of a side not seen in the black community on film 'as-it-is', and appeal to a mass audience. Peebles knew he had a base, however, or at least knew he did in his gut somewhere, and went for broke, literally as well as figuratively, to get his little underground production from start to finish. It's in this context though that this film's writer/director/star, son Mario Van Peebles, goes further than his father even did in a way, albeit not attempting to break the ground his father did. There's actually some sort of very intrinsic stuff going on, and one wonders how self-reflexive (and a little disturbing in how frank it is) to see Mario Van Peebles playing his own father and involving himself, as a boy, in the production as the movie's hero losing his virginity at the age of 13. It's frankness, actually, is a virtue as opposed to something off-putting.Peebles has more resources technically than his father did, but there's more than that that makes Baadasssss! such a awesomely cool examination of a headstrong, half-crazy half-brilliant filmmaker and production story. There's a wonderful mix of abrasive, off-beat humor regarding culture (perceptions of black people in the business, of course, but also bits involving hippies, and old-time Hollywood people), and part of the fun comes in the actors and how they handle the attitude. The introduction of Melvin's security/boom-mic operator is one of those scenes. There's also great details revealed about the production itself, like the unresolved fate of a handgun on the set, or how a car-fire is dealt with and incorporated with a lot of calculated risk. Actually, everything Peebles took on with his film was a risk, and his son follows suit by not making it an exact dramatization either. Like Reds, he intersperses the narrative with 'interviews' with those involved, but with the actors playing the real-life characters, and then putting in Ossie Davis in the interviews not as Melvin (played by Mario's) father, but as Ossie Davis.If this sounds confusing, it really isn't. Peebles, the director/star here, handles this with a very smart handling of character in relation to the others underneath him, in how he sort of goes into a downward spiral as money runs out and he loses sight in an eye, and even how he can't distinguish between himself and his "Sweetback" persona. Peebles also implements a visual style that is a little crazy as well, but with a wam-bam sense of what works as opposed to what's done in a rush (ala the original Sweetback itself). And like Ed Wood, one sees how a filmmaker can get what he wants if he pushes his own conscience out of the way, even as things comically crumble around him- the difference here being that Melvin Van Peebles has at least some level of talent to go with his immense ambitions. There's also fine supporting work by Rainn Wilson as Peebles's hippie producer, David Alan Grier as the assistant director, Nia Long as Peebles's long suffering girlfriend, and Saul Rubinek as his agent. Peebles himself is also a very fine actor here, if a little self-conscious of his own father's ups and downs to portray.Loaded with self-importance that doesn't feel pushy, laughs that come out of genuine characterizations and dialog, and a sweet message to boot, this is one of the best films about what Truffaut called the joy and/or horror of a director making a film.
the_crock
Mario Van Peebles take a bow, not only is this a brutally honest recount of what your father went through trying to make an independent movie. But you also made this movie so damn enjoyable. I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy a movie where a son admires his father, but this was more than that, this was a warts (forcing his son to have a sex scene at 13) and all movie, that is a damning account of the film industry and director who has had enough of the racism in his job and in his country.Melvin Van Peebles was a demanding, arrogant man who let nothing get in the way of his vision, which makes him not much of a person, but a hell of an inspiration and artist. His movie which I haven't seen, is shown as a fore runner to the Blaxploitation era of Hollywood, but to me Melvin Van Peebles was an inspiration to all Independent film makers who value there movie more than making money.Within hours of seeing this movie I ordered Sweetback on DVD from America, because none of the great black film makers have there movies released in Australia. I was really inspired by Melvin's I don't give a stuff attitude. There is just something special about an independent film maker, taking risks and making a movie that makes people think, shame Hollywood doesn't try and do the same.
stefanie-10
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.
