If not anything else, Brown Bag Diaries: Ridin’ the Blinds in B Minor is certainly a challenging tongue twister. Put that charming use of alliteration to the side for the moment and that playful combination of words is actually the title of Jason Momoa’s third production on his long list of films. Back in 2010, he was actually on both sides of the camera. Momoa not only starred in this elusive short but also took on the roles of director, screenwriter, and executive producer.
According to IMDb, the Hawaiian-born actor plays Mikey — “a disorganized travel log of a vagabond in search of home.” Before you even wonder why, I’m pulling the summary for the short from TMDb for a particular reason. This very early Momoa film is nowhere to be found. You would assume that it would be streaming somewhere considering the continuing popularity of the actor in combination with his success in so many well-known franchises (Dune, Fast and Furious, James Gunn’s DCU, etc.) — but for some reason, the details behind Mikey’s journey remain a mystery.
Thanks to a Jason Momoa fan blog, a handful of obscure websites that catalog films and a very hard to find interview, we can luckily put together what Ridin’ the Blinds is actually all about. Put together by Pride of Gypsies (a production company founded by Momoa), this fifteen-minute drama also stars a young Augusto Aguilera as Johnny, Mikey’s adventuring sidekick in all of this, and 70s/80s TV actor Linden Chiles, who plays Diablo. The latter character’s name hints at the presence of an antagonist — but also one that we never get to find out more about, unfortunately.
Jason Momoa’s Character Was Far From a Hero
My search finally took me to an interview with Aleim Magazine back in 2010. Some details of Ridin’ the Blinds were finally revealed. The conversation between Momoa and interviewer Victoria Foster lays out to readers that Mikey and Johnny are actually brothers who are running away from home after some traumatizing events take place. With a suitcase and a guitar, they hop trains and make their way through the underbelly of the country. Something bad happens to John and Mike naturally reaches a big brother’s breaking point.
Between the pictures showing the soulful cinematography at work and the interviewer talking about a scene where Momoa really commits as an actor while delivering a monologue about childhood abuse, Ridin’ the Blinds should have been released by now as it would have certainly made an impact. But that’s probably never going to be the case. You want to know why? The official website for Pride of Gypsies is completely omitting the short from its filmmaking history.
Road to Paloma — a 2014 feature film also starring Jason Momoa — is the first one on its timeline instead, featured both on the homepage and the blog section. The reason for hiding this drama-oriented short cannot be due to audience reception. For those who have somehow seen it (in-person screenings, I imagine), Brown Bag Diaries: Ridin’ the Blinds in B Minor holds an 8.3 out of 10 on IMDB and a 79% approval from Google Users. The backstory and/or current elements revolving around abuse may be triggering for some viewers, but you would also think that Momoa’s willingness to tell this type of story would just broaden his audience as an actor.
Instead, this potential cornerstone to his filmography has become a lost piece of media. No disrespect to the characters of Lobo, Duncan Idaho, or Dante Reyes, but the re-emergence of this short film would put Momoa in a new kind of character actor spotlight. Perhaps the soon-to-be DCU cast member didn’t like the way his first short came out, or perhaps the mainstream movie trajectory swayed him from going along a more independent path. On the other hand, if there’s any sort of legal or licensing trouble, then there’s no way around that and Ridin’ the Blinds remains in the vault.
As my closing statement, I’d like to point to my past pieces for a moment. I’ve written about Jason Momoa works numerous times before. A network drama that takes place at a resort, a science fiction horror movie that deserves a second chance in the spotlight and, of course, his place in the new DCU. But I would also like to see what he brought to the plate in terms of cinematic effort before any of the other top-tier Hollywood opportunities influenced his perspective. How about you?