How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and enjoy it)
A look at the prolific filmmaker, writer and performing artist Melvin Van Peebles. Best known as the director and star of Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song he’s been causing a commotion since the late 1950s. Joe Angio’s film uses excellent clips and good interviews to chart Van Peebles’ career, from studious kid to his present position as an elder statesman of gentle provocation. A truly a Renaissance Man, having not only acted in, but sang, produced, edited, and written scripts and scores for both movies and Broadway plays (Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death). Thinking you know anything about this man from only having seen his landmark film is a mistake. Frustrated by racism in America, he abandoned the U.S. for France at an early age. Overseas, his artistic endeavors were encouraged and developed before the expatriate eventually returned home with a determination to get his projects done, come hell or high water. There’s a life story here worth telling and watching one of best documentary films, while being entertaining and inspiring.
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