Listen to Me Marlon (2015)

Listen to Me Marlon is a fantastic documentary about one of the best actors in the history of film. A treat for every film lover and everyone who enjoy learning and getting to know about genius people who changed and revived things in their field of work and were never afraid to be themselves. The narrator of this film is Marlon Brando himself. The audio material was taken from hundreds of hours of private recordings that he made and were never released to the public before. It was wonderful listening to some of the things he said about acting, life itself, his views on Native and African Americans, film business, success, his troubled youth and many more. I believe thet every person who is thinking of trying to get into acting should see this. Grat film about a great man.

A fascinating look into the life of Marlon Brando, made all the more compelling and unique through its use of Brando's own private audio and rare video recordings. If you're put off early on because it seems to be jumping around and/or it's hard to hear, stick with it. Aside from seeing many examples of Brando's absolutely brilliant acting, we see a complete view of his life, with all of its triumphs and difficulties.Brando had problems with relationships, children, poor part selections, and was often a pain in the behind to his directors. That may also put people off, but I have to say, this documentary also shows just how laser sharp the man was. The same blistering honesty he brought to his acting roles, he also brought to life. He saw that acting was a means to an end – that time was the true currency of man – and after he had 'made it', he made sure to enjoy his life. He was a pillar of moral rectitude during the Civil Rights movement, standing up for African-Americans and later also for Native Americans. He saw through the phoniness and profiteering in the world, and sought to live his life simply in Tahiti and elsewhere. He had a difficult childhood and relationship with his father, and yet reached a point of forgiveness, understanding that his dad was a product of his own upbringing, and so on, and so on.Despite the maelstrom of chaos and occasional controversy in his life, what emerges is the coherence of Brando's honesty and his moral code. He humiliated himself by taking parts that were ridiculous and which he later regretted, but if you put that into the context of his life and his priorities, you'll empathize with him, and will be far less prone to laughing at him. I was aware of all the elements of his story, but this documentary really brought it all together for me, and left me admiring the man even more. He was a true hero, a brilliant actor with a social conscience and an intellect that should is under-appreciated.In terms of the documentary, there are some elements that are less effective. The scenes showing his crude digitized likeness. The audio when it's hard to understand, and which would have been helped with subtitles (turning on close caption helps, even if you're not hearing impaired). The less than even storytelling, though it's always the case that a biographer must choose what to leave in, and what to leave out. With all of that said, director Stevan Riley delivers, and there will be things in this documentary for everyone, regardless of how much you come in knowing about Brando. Strong film.

Magnificently captivating. Marlon Brando in his own words, talking about his difficulties, his regrets, his mistakes, the moments of tranquility in his life, he comes back to life in this film. It is beautifully made and made me tear up at the end. It is astonishing how a man like this had a life filled with so much hatred and hardships and still managed to become someone we all want to aspire to become in our own lives, unapologetically honest and full of thoughts and experiences. This is more than just a bio-documentary, this is a window into a man's life, someone who was very private and not open with a lot of people, the way fame had changed and affected his life and how he felt about the choices he made in his life. It truly is a masterpiece, no other way to explain it.The way the documentary is structured gives you a detailed and straight forward look into what Marlon Brando felt every step of the way, how the media treated him, how actors and directors felt about him and how he felt about the industry and acting as a whole. It really makes you question when something you love doing becomes a soul draining necessity in your life you cannot run away from when everything you wanted seems to be getting further and further away. One of those films that once you see it, it's hard to get out of your head. If you respect the art of filmmaking, the art of understanding people and especially Marlon Brando, please watch this film, It taught me so much and I have learned a lot from this film. It gives you a satisfying but gut-wrenching feeling at the end, the whole film makes you feel all sorts of emotions and makes you see deeper and deeper into his mind. I love this film, probably my favorite documentary so far, I definitely recommend this film, a man like Brando deserves to be appreciated and listened to and this film gives you all. A definite 10/10.

Marlon Brando who died in 2004 left behind hundreds of hours of audio recordings on tape where he discusses various aspects of his life, the highs, the lows and his acting career. Some of it is incoherent as he rambles and mumbles in a bewildering manner.The film is topped and tailed by a digitised head of Brando created for some unspecified movie. Brando revolutionised screen acting by popularising techniques he learned from Stella Adler, the Method which wowed the stage and he then brought it on screen. You can hear him tell us how exhilarating it felt was to finish a performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, getting on a motorbike, riding around New York in the early hours, then heading to a club in Harlem and party the rest of the night.We see interview footage, documentary clips and clips from films like On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather, Mutiny of the Bounty, The Formula, Apocalypse Now, Last Tango in Paris.It is insightful to see him playing Don Corleone and hear the man how he prepared for the role, his motivation. In a sense an acting masterclass when he tells how easy it is to slap Johnny Fontaine on the screen but to stay still, silent when he hears the news that his son Sonny is killed, that was difficult.Brando was also a political activist, he had strong views of race, the shoddy treatment of native Indians. Less interesting to me was his haphazard and in some sense tragic personal life, especially as his son was accused of murder.This is not a complete picture though. As an actor Brando started the 1950s as a trailblazer but also acquired a reputation of being difficult and lazy. The 1960s were dogged by movies that were critical and commercial failures until he won his second Oscar for The Godfather.Then apart from Last Tango, he made cameos vast amounts of money such as Superman and The Formula. By which time he was obese, not bothering to learn his lines but get fed them via an earpiece.I wanted to know more about this, we get little. It is left to Francis Coppola in his own documentary footage to tell us about the frustrations of working with Brando for Apocalypse Now.His final acting years where he would make fitful appearances are glossed over. I would like to have heard him talk about his significant role in A Dry White Season, a film he worked for almost no pay and for which he got his final Oscar nomination.I was never too enthused by this film. I still felt I got to know very little about Brando but it was nice to hear from him even though some of what he said was less than compelling.