A still from “Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-Itchyfooted Mutha”

Melvin Van Peebles makes movies his own damned way, thanks. So it’s no surprise that in his latest directorial effort, Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-Itchy-Footed Mutha (now that‘s a title), he wears his heart on his ragged sleeve. That distinctive passion and drive make Van Peebles’ new movie well worth checking out. (It screens at the Northwest Film Forum September 8 through the 14th.)

Confessions serves as sort of a kinder, gentler companion piece to his breakthrough guerilla mission statement, 1971’s Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song. As in Sweetback, Van Peebles plays a character on a journey of flight and self-discovery.  This time, however, his protagonist finds escape from neighborhood bullies in the pages of travel books and gives in to a wanderlust that takes him through childhood in Chicago, young manhood in New York, drama on the high seas as a merchant marine, and danger at the epicenter of a militant regime in Africa.

In its own ambling way Confessions shows staggering ambition, following its protagonist through four decades of life, and through trials and adventures that’d give Cervantes or Mark Twain head-spins: Van Peebles’ sharp, funny script threads it all together ably. Best of all, the man narrates and plays the main character the whole way through (even as a boy), and his charismatic, direct voice lends the movie heart and spirit.

Indeed, a good deal of Confessions’ appeal lay in its distinctively homemade quality. In addition to directing, acting, and writing, the auteur also edited and produced. Anyone actively making movies with a touch this personal (at the age of 76, no less!) obtains mad props from this corner.

Van Peebles has always reached far, and there are points in Confessions where that reach exceeds his grasp. It’s shot on video, and the seams do occasionally show. The pacing of some of the Africa-set stuff sags, and period detail understandably goes out the window in a few of the scenes. It makes you wish Van Peebles would’ve scraped together enough finances to shoot with real period detail on 35 millimeter film (or even in a higher-def video resolution than what’s on display here), or that he’d pared down the sprawling narrative in favor of a simpler, narration-based feature.

Then again, a bigger budget would’ve taken away the joy of seeing this legendary director work wonders on a (literal) dime. There’s a mob hit early in the movie that’s as imaginatively shot as anything you’ll see in a Scorsese flick, and you’ll marvel at how deftly Van Peebles interweaves stock footage with his own (the guy can edit scenes like nobody’s business). That kind of resourcefulness has helped build Melvin Van Peebles’ legend, and it’s one of the things that makes Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-Itchy-Footed Mutha downright inspiring to watch.

It’s one of the things that makes talking to Melvin Van Peebles downright inspiring, too. He sat down to speak at length with The SunBreak about his new film, his storied past, and how he continues to create his own art, obstacles and preconceptions be damned.

“I’m always giving this analogy: a bumblebee is aerodynamically unsound, but he doesn’t know it, he just flies anyway. I didn’t know I couldn’t make movies…I just decided I was gonna make feature films anyway.”

Stay tuned to The SunBreak for the full interview, coming soon…