Baadasssss!
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Year Released: 2003
Rating: 2.0
Mario's loving tribute to his father's (Melvin) struggles making Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song - he isn't afraid to show the old man as a womanizer, manipulator and tyrant, but the problems that plague the 'indie' picture's development are awfully familiar. It doesn't help that trying to make Sweetback sound like a classic of the medium is a stretch - it's raw and passionate but amateurish - and liberties (on Mario's part) were no doubt taken; there's also a strong sense of self-congratulation. It does address the disgust I feel when I see a good deal of classic movies and cartoons and their treatment of African Americans, and watching Mario play Melvin criticizing little Mario is pretty damn Charlie Kaufmanesque.
