SHOWTIMES

Check out the Sundance 2004 Episode of Indieville for our interview with Mario.
Keep your eyes on Indieville's site as we will add extended interviews to the webiste soon.

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Before seeing Baadasssss, all I knew of Melvin Van Peeples was his name and his hot son, the super brother, Mario. Not the legacy, the work which came to be through his talent and take-no-shit attitude. It's a good thing I saw Sweet Sweetback's Baadassssss Song Baadasssss: How to get the Man's Foot out of Your Ass, or as I like to call it, Dude, this guy is f'n awesome. It's a comfortably artificial and often melodramatic yet enthralling look at the transformative year in actor/writer/director/producer/renegade Melvin Van Peeples' life as he goes on to make the top grossing indie film of 1971.

It does the best job a biographical film can do, entertaining, educating and giving the ignorant yet well meaning film buffs like myself a piece of history. It's difficult to appreciate the historical significance and artistic achievement heyday that occurred years before you were born.

Baadasssss, a film within a film, takes a heartfelt yet brutally honest look at Mario's pop, Melvin Van Peeples. At points it reminded me of Ed Wood -- except in this case the filmmaker not only had an important social conscious message, but succeeded in putting it out and reaching people. That and I also highly doubt that Plan 9 From Outer Space inspired a following among the Black Panthers.

The ceaselessly fascinating film within a film genre is perhaps the most difficult to make succeed. An insider's view must satisfy and entertain the average outsider/filmgoer. Films based on actual events can be more difficult as facts and personal information can cause the film to fall on a sour note if things don't quite add up.

At times the film echoes Adaptation; we witness the biographical making of movie within a movie, this time just one generation removed. Much like Adaptation we question exactly how much is real with the inside look at filmmaking. Unlike Charlie Kaufman, however, Mario's not totally whacked-out. He has been in the business long enough to have learned from both his father's ways (I wouldn't even call them mistakes simply because he had been battling uphill for his entire career and seemed to do a damn good job at it) and his own and has created a great piece of cinematic history.

Mario gives a gripping performance as his dad. Joy Bryant is fabulous as Melvin's attention-hungry assistant, Priscilla. Hilarity ensues the moment she enters the frame. .

Like most genius/artists who are incredibly driven, there is a harsh side to Van Peeples. Although it is clear that he cares for his family, he often puts his work first; nothing can stand in the way of his vision. He doesn't close himself off though, he may appear gruff and stubborn yet he's still there. We see that you can't get what you want without pissing some people off. To play the game one has to sacrifice family and friends. Van Peeples' vision is so bright it literally blinds him. Melvin is open to everyone; he enforces the creation of a diverse cast and crew for his film.

While at points the film seemed too saccharine and to hastily edited for even for sweet-tooths with ADD, this was more in the construction of the film itself, and not in the script or characters. The young VP doesn't sugarcoat it either. It doesn't seem easy to make/create change nor are the rewards so easy to realize. It can be hard to be appreciated if there is still so much hatred and bigotry, especially in one of the more "innovative" lines of work. Two sound guys from opposite ends of the spectrum, a film schooled large tough-looking black guy who has yet to experience working as a soundperson and a short white veteran of sound engineer. Locked up, asks the guard, "What's the charge?" without flinching replies, "The charge is being black."

The making of the film was undoubtedly therapeutic for the young VP; it's a way of dealing with his odd if sometimes troublesome childhood and with the final cost of Baadasssss coming in at just over, it's undoubtedly cheaper than a few years worth of counseling. Literally walking in his father's shoes, understanding why he did the things he did and how it affected the young Mario. We are exposed to the foreshadowing of young Mario taking notes.

Perhaps a great exercise that maybe would benefit Angelina Jolie and her severed relationship with her pop, Jon Voight, if she were willing to gain a few pounds, ugly herself up a bit Theron-stylez and go through the motions of playing a male street hustler. Maybe then she might understand what her father had to go through to get to her to where she is today.

It is important to all filmmakers, especially those of the independent breed. Even more relevant today, although censorship has always been an obstacle for artists, the past few years the growing control and idiocy of the FCC has put real artists on the back burner, while few who go against the norm are allowed to slip through the cracks. The young VP. also displays the catch-22 of not having enough money to rent out the editing room and not being able to receive any money for the film until it was finished.

Thirty-three years ago does not seem very long ago as those with "different" opinions still have difficulty getting their work made and often more importantly, distributed. Van Peebles has opened the doors for Spike Lee and many others whose work has been viewed as controversial.

In a time when everything is looking particularly shitty, everyone is being separated and separating themselves from one another it's a breath of fresh air to get a lesson from the past that it is still possible to form and create a statement based through unity. It's a unity fairytale that offers hope for the future.

It's good to see even the slightest bit of optimism, not naïve, but simply organic, spun from the truth of experience, in both the creative world and life itself.

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