Chameleon Street

Stars: Wendell B. Harris Jr., Angela Leslie, Amina Fakir. Written, directed by, and starring Wendell B. Harris Jr., Chameleon Street is based on the true story of William Douglas "Chameleon" Street, a Detroit-based black scam artist who, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, successfully impersonated a reporter from Time, a surgeon, and an attorney, among other trades. Unhappy working for his father, pressured by his wife to "make more money," Street becomes, in Harris's caustically hilarious vision, the henpecked husband who is stuck in the family business and desperately wants out...out and up. Although episodic in nature, Chameleon Street has a thematic richness rarely found in current films: Street is an adult child who's filled with wonder whether he's loving (someone he shouldn't) or learning (for Street "walking into the library is like walking into a cathedral"). Irresponsible and ethically impoverished, he is, nevertheless, always resourceful (in one of the film's funniest scenes, he responds to his whining daughter's complaint about wanting a "new toy" by spraying black paint on the face of a Barbie doll: "There you go; new toy...black Barbie.") Chameleon Street is yet another one of those surprising fell-through-the-cracks kind of movies that seem to come out of nowhere, and find a whole new audience on video. Audience: People looking for an offbeat comedy that's funny, smart, occasionally shocking (a scene with Street, his daughter, and a knife is one of the most disturbing in recent years), and always interesting. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review—Jan. 8, 2008—Image, 94 min., R, $26.99—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1989's Chameleon Street features a fine transfer. DVD extras include audio commentary by film critic Armond White and filmmaker Michael Reiter, a 26-minute “making-of” featurette (26 min.), a “You Know Leadbelly?” preproduction character exploration (7 min.), the Grand Jury Prize-winning short at the 1986 Sony U.S. Visions contest, “Colette Vignette,” featuring Colette Haywood (5 min.), a photo gallery, liner notes by White, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an excellent film.]