Baadasssss! (2004) Movie Information:

Baadasssss! (2004) Directed by: Mario Van Peebles Baadasssss! (2004) Written by: Mario Van Peebles, Dennis Haggerty, Melvin Van Peebles Baadasssss! (2004) Cast: Mario Van Peebles, Joy Bryant, T Carter, Terry Crews, Ossie Davis, David Grier, Nia Long, Paul Rodriguez, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Schiavelli

Baadasssss! (2004) U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Baadasssss! (2004) U.K. Distributor: Not available at this time

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Baadasssss! (2004) Synopsis:

Melvin Van Peebles stunned the world for the first time, with his debut feature, "The Story of a Three Day Pass." Filmed in France and selected as the French entry in the San Francisco Film Festival, Melvin's film was awarded the top prize. Saying it was controversial would be an understatement. In 1968 for a black man to walk up to the podium and accept the top festival award for a film he had to go abroad to make--now that's how you make your mark. After his comedy, "Watermelon Man," Melvin was determined to push the Hollywood boundaries with the groundbreaking, and even more controversial, "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song." Turned down by every major studio including Columbia, where he had a three-picture deal, Melvin was forced to basically self-finance. Risking everything he had Melvin delivered to the world the first Black Ghetto hero on the big screen--whether they were ready or not! More than 30 years later, history is being fashioned again in the telling of this very tale. Mario Van Peebles, Melvin's son, directs an honest and revealing portrait of his pioneering father. Mario now tells the story of the making of Melvin Van Peebles' landmark 1971 film, "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," including Melvin's struggles to raise money to fund the film under the guise of creating a black porno film. Melvin had ducked creditors, the unions and had to bail out his camera crew after they were arrested because a white cop decided "a bunch of Negroes and hippies couldn't have come by that camera equipment honestly." Despite death threats and temporarily losing sight in one eye, Melvin somehow managed to whip into shape a rag-tag, multi-racial crew and finish the film that would give birth to birth of a new era which was about to explode: Independent Black Cinema.

Baadasssss! (2004) Movie Review:

Not only is this one of the most important making-of dramatisations, it's also a powerful love letter from a son to his father. With wit, energy, heart and soul, Mario Van Peebles recounts the making and marketing of his father Melvin's groundbreaking 1971 film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, the film that made artists like Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino possible.

Melvin (brilliantly well-played by Mario) is a young filmmaker whose ideas for authentic black cinema are too far ahead of their time. No one's ready for a realistic portrayal of African-American life on screen; they prefer to keep black actors in cliched roles that are either subservient or noble. But Melvin wants to make a raw, edgy thriller with a racial injustice theme. So he scrambles to raise the money himself, with a few close friends at his side and his sceptical 13-year-old son Mario (Thomas) in a pivotal role that includes a sex scene.

Mario subtly and cleverly parallels the stories of Sweetback and Melvin, black men fighting a prejudiced system and subverting it in any way they can. But this aspect of the film is relatively understated; more important is Melvin's rollicking story, including the tensions and connections between the various characters and the much larger issues they were battling against. Even though this is a raw, low-budget movie, Mario gets virtually everything right, from the impeccable recreation of the early 1970s to the lively atmosphere on a guerrilla moviemaker's set. It's quite simply one of the best movies ever made about independent filmmaking.

Like the film it springs from, this is both vitally important moviemaking and thoroughly entertaining. It's jammed with telling and provocative performances (including a jaw-dropping cameo from West, aka Batman), inventively written and directed sequences, and a lovely flood of subtext in the Mario-Melvin relationship. Melvin isn't remotely portrayed as the perfect father, but without ever being preachy about it, Mario's clearly saying that he understands why his dad was so focussed and sometimes thoughtless. And in making this film, Mario shows an understanding of both the issues and the art of filmmaking that must make his father feel the same.

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Baadasssss! (2004) review written by: Rich Cline