Stevan Riley’s highly focused documentary, Listen To Me Marlon, offers a ultra-candid portrait of Marlon Brando, the legendary screen icon and incredibly mysterious and complex man.
It is one of the most complexly textured and searching documentary of an actor ever put on film.
Grade: B+ (**** out of *****)
Listen to Me Marlon | |
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![]() U.S. theatrical release poster
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Docu’s novelty is that the insights, revelations, and secrets are heard by Brando’s own voice from the treasure troves of his collection of papers.
Made with the full cooperation of the Brando estate, the feature is a superbly crafted collage of images and words.
After premiering to critical acclaim at this year’s Sundance Film Fest and at the New Directors/New Films, the Showtime feature will bow in theaters in late July before premiering on Showtime TV later this year.
Unbeknownst to the public, Brando, who always maintained some distance from the press and the public, had created a vast archive of personal audio and visual materials over the course of his lifetime (he died in 2004, at age 80).
Surprisingly, these materials are often deeply personal–even confessional–and lacking ego and vanity, as could be expected from such a brilliant if troubled man. Ultra-bold in their subjective observations, there is no discretion or evasion.
Now, a decade after his death, for the first time ever, those recordings come to public life in Riley’s impressively informative film.
Charting Brando’s exceptional career as an actor and his extraordinary life away from the stage and screen, the film reveals the complexities and contradictions that had defined Marlon Brando’s existence by telling the richly dense story in his own words.
End result is a compassionate, often brilliant portrait of man that comes across as more human (and humane) and compelling than ever given credit for. As expected, through the rich archival footage, director Riley pays deserving tribute to Brando’s genius, his Method acting.
Technically, the feature represents a vigorous process of combining still material of sounds and images that humanize the legendary actor and reluctant star, shedding impressionistic light on one of the most complicated and probably misunderstood man of the twentieth century.
Critical Status
Shortlisted as one of the 15 Documentary films considered for Oscar.
The film was nominated for a Gotham Award
Included in the NBR’s Top 5 Documentaries of 2015
On July 29, 2015, Listen to Me Marlon was released theatrically in the US in over 140 cities during ten-week run. Its total worldwide gross was about $516,337.
Credits:
Written by Stevan Riley, Peter Ettedgui
Produced by John Battsek, R. J. Cutler, George Chignell
Edited by Stevan Riley
Music by Stefan Wesołowski
Production companies: Passion Pictures, Cutler Productions
Distributed by Showtime Films
Release date: Premiere, Jan 24, 2015 (Sundance Film Fest)
Running time: 95 minutes