Review of Baadasssss! (2004) by David K — 24 Sep 2004
[b]Talk to Her[/b].
The different pieces of this film are woven masterfully together to form a singular powerful story. It's quite mesmerizing. I think the biggest strength this film has is its restraint. Every moment and every performance is understated, and the film never crosses the line into melodrama even though it would have been very easy to do so. The film also has some great imagery and is scored to beautiful and effective music.
I do, however, have a minor greivance about the film. I was a little put off by the way Almodovar chose to illustrate how much time had elapsed between scenes by presenting the exact amount of time on the screen. I can usually forgive this technique being used in film if it is done once or maybe twice. But Almodovar employed this technique several times throughout his film, and it felt like lazy filmmaking. The amount of time that had elapsed between scenes was usually fairly obvious (especially in the case of the flashbacks), and in the scenes where it wasn't too clear, I would have preferred him to be more creative in illustrating time passed to the audience. Even though I wrote rather extensively on it, it really was just a small annoyance in an otherwise magnificent film.
***/****.
[b]Baadasssss! [/b].
This film is not only a very enganging story about Mario Van Peebles' struggle to do something revolutionary and against story, but it also a very insightful look into the independant filmmaking process. This is one of the few films that acknowledges and spends some time on several of the different aspects of filmmaking. We get glimpses of the creative process, the financing, the casting, the cinematography, the producing, the dailies, and the editing. It's a film that anyone interested in making films should definitely check out. That's not to say that this is a terrific film. At some points, Peebles does go overboard in the melodrama department and his film sufferes for it. Still, this is definitely a solid effort that's worth seeing.
**1/2/****.
This review of Baadasssss! (2004) was written by David K on 24 Sep 2004.
Baadasssss! has generally received very positive reviews.
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