Identity Crisis (film)

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Identity Crisis
DVD cover.
Directed by	Melvin Van Peebles
Produced by	James E. Hinton Melvin Van Peebles
Written by	Mario Van Peebles
Starring	Mario Van Peebles
Music by	E. Pearson
Editing by	Victor Kanefsky Melvin Van Peebles
Distributed by	Euripide Distribution (France)
Release date(s)	September 15, 1989
Running time	100 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Preceded by	Don't Play Us Cheap
Followed by	Bellyful
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Identity Crisis is a 1989 comedy film directed and edited by Melvin Van Peebles, and written by Mario Van Peebles. The film, a parody of the body switching comedy films of the era, is about a rapper (Mario Van Peebles) who winds up sharing his body with the soul of a dead fashion designer, switching between personalities every time he is struck on the head. The film was not a critical or financial success during its original theatrical release. However, the film has become more appreciated on home video. The film was released on DVD on January 24, 2006.

[edit] Plot

Melvin Van Peebles acts as the film's narrator, introducing the film's main characters. Yves Malmaison (Richard Fancy) is a world-famous French fashion designer, a flaming homosexual with a preference for red hair, he once experimented with an American woman, and thus he has a son, Sebastian (Ilan Mitchell-Smith). Chilly D (Mario Van Peebles) is a struggling rapper who has been stealing dresses made by Malmaison to redesign and give to his many girlfriends.

On the night of a big fashion show, Malmaison is poisoned, and Chilly D is chased by the same people who poisoned the fashion designer. Through a turn of events, the souls of both men wind up in Chilly D's body. Several days later, following Malmaison's funeral, he wakes up in a hospital to discover, to his shock, that he is no longer in his own body.

Stumbling the streets, confused, Yves as Chilly tries to piece together elements of his former life, with no such luck. Making things even more difficult is the fact that every time they are struck or hit, they switch between their two personalities, leading to confusion and disorientation for people they bump into.

Yves manages to convince his son Sebastian that it is him, and they try to find out who killed him, finding that drug smugglers are trying to take over the company. At the end of the film, Chilly D manages to have all of Malmaison's memories, but still be himself, and so he and Sebastian go into business together.

[edit] External link

• Identity Crisis at the Internet Movie Database