Melvin Van Peebles' film is brilliant

The first night of the Maryland Film Festival, Barry Levinson reminded the audience that no matter how much film has evolved, it's still about storytelling, and "Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus, Itchy-Footed Mutha" is a new kind of cinematic storytelling.

Van Peebles came from New York to attend the screening, fresh from rave reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival. He told the audience last night that he made this film because the technology has evolved enough to give him the precision and control he had always longed for in the editing process -- his favorite part of filmmaking.

The technology allows him to manipulate images, add hand-painted (by him) elements to give scenes a magical quality with saturated colors, and slow or speed up the film for effect. It's a masterful film.

I'm providing a link at the top left of this page, to MFF director Jed Dietz's spot-on program notes for this film.

I love the fact that, at 75, Van Peebles plays the main character as a little boy and young man, as well as the old man telling the story in flashback. It works, because he uses the script to remind you his character is not as old as the actor. And it's a lot like real-life storytelling. When my grandmother told me stories of her youth, I imagined her as a child looking just like she did as a gray-haired old woman, but smaller. And that's what Van Peebles does with his character. I think he used that technology to make his character appear smaller when he's "the kid."

There's no way a verbal explanation can do justice to the way in which he pulls this off. You just have to see it.