|
CONFESSIONS OF A EX-DOOFUS-ITCHY FOOTED MUTHA Send This Review to a Friend
By the very title, filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles confirms his reputation as an iconoclast. Van Peebles, you may recall, directed the 1971 landmark film “Sweet Sweetack’s Baadasssss Song,” which did tremendous business among African-American audiences and demonstrated what a market that could be. Now, Van Peebles, turning 77 and having furthered his reputation in film and also as a writer-director for the stage as well as for his acting, has made a movie that has an autobiographical ring to it, but as we might expect, exercises the writer-director’s fertile imagination. He has based it on his own graphic novel.
In this outing Van Peebles plays a protagonist who is exploring life in various geographical locations. It is a quest to find truth and happiness through a stream of adventures and encounters. Think of it as a tall but personal yarn told with intimacy and stylistic invention, including mixing cinematography with painted images. As the credits show, Van Peebles is master of virtually all—producing, directing, writing, editing, acting and even the art work.
But there is a catch. A little of this sort of personal project goes a long way, and while much is amusing, much lacks sufficient spark. It probably would have been a good idea to have someone with a strong hand lording over the project. But then it wouldn’t have been a true Van Peebles creation. Therefore, one has to take the entire enterprise and add it to the collection that provides a portrait of a man with a wide range, a bent for creativity and a fierce independence that has been his hallmark. By the way, the film ends with the hero finding love and happiness.
|