BRANDO

[Techguy]

I just finished watching Part 2 of Turner Classic Movie's original documentary "Brando"; I saw Part 1 last night. This is one of the most insightful and thorough documentaries about a celebrity icon I have ever seen. Marlon Brando was, and still is, one of the most complex and perplexing actors ever. TCM has also been airing a film festival of Brando's movies the last couple of nights. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone who gets TCM. Parts 1 and 2 will have encore performances on Saturday May 12 and Tuesday May 29.

[Sirenna]

Great thread topic.

I've always thought Vincent was a bit like Marlon. (I saw parts of the documentary too and thought it was great btw) Both Vincent and Marlon have (had) an intensity, sexual, yes but also a creative, movable energy that leaps from the screen. Movable, maybe kinetic is a better way of putting it because their acting choices affected the way the the other actors in the scene choose to play it, irrespective of rehearsals which changed the outcome of the scenes, usually for the better by making them more powerful and thought-provoking and that is the gift of being artistic; of creating something out of nothing.

Every time I see a Brando film I have to take a self-strengthening breath before girding myself to watch because I know it's going to make me cry, make me angry, make me feel how small a person is against all the evil elements: all emotions I hate feeling. It's the way LOCI episodes, early on used to make me feel with their unerring ring of truth spurring me to watch the next one week after week and fueling an irrepressible desire to find boards like this to talk it all out so at least I could sleep peacefully at night. Miss those days but definitely think Marlon and Vincent are hewn from the same oak.

thanks for this one, techguy.

[Patcat]

I got the last parts of the documentary last night, and even from that brief glimpse, thought it was a fascinating and balanced assessment of a fascinating and fustrating man. I look forward to catching all of it when TCM repeats it in the future.

Sirenna; you're right that watching a Brando performance is often a gut wrenching experience. One of my favorite performances of his is as Marc Antony in JULIUS CAESEAR. It's subtle, disciplined, and very sexual.

Patcat

[Techguy]

The Hollywood Reporter reviews Brando:

Brando
Bottom Line: A new documentary on Marlon Brando that often gives a dazzling performance.[/b]
By Marilyn Moss
Apr 30, 2007

There always is room for more Marlon Brando, particularly a documentary that dives head first into his psyche and comes up with original material and more than a new thought or two on the actor.

Leslie Greif (who exec produced "Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool" for TCM), and writer Mimi Freedman have come up with a stylish docu, "Brando," that covers the familiar but also offers a pointed, disturbing take on why cinema's (and theater's) great actor behaved as he did, moved close to and then far away from his craft.

If the takes on Brando here aren't especially new, then at least they're shaped into a fascinating view that seems fresh and compelling. "Brando" stays ordinary when it glosses over the career, stopping to look at what made Brando's style of acting so revolutionary (to use an overused phrase, as this docu sometimes does).

The oncamera interviews with Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, John Turturro, John Travolta and the like wax on about Brando's impact on them as actors, for example. We've seen this kind of thing time and again and it's the snooziest part of the docu.

But when Pacino gets going on how Brando improvised on the set of "The Godfather," how he came up with original material for the character of Don Corleone -- material and characterization that emanated from his own psychology -- then this kind of interview gets riveting.

There is something that doesn't always sit right as a cadre of Brando's good friends, such as Cloris Leachman and George England, spill the beans on Brando's weaknesses, even the difficulty of working with him. This is old news and has a hint of friends clearing the air now that Brando is gone and can't defend himself (as if he would in the first place).

Still, when Brando's longtime friend Ellen Adler (daughter of Brando's mentor, Stella Adler), who does her share of bean-spilling, gets a certain look in her eye, it's not hard to see the unique effect Brando had on some friends and colleagues. To say that Brando was (and still is) a force as an actor isn't saying much because we already know that. But Adler's saying that he was an element (like other elements on the Earth, on the planet), is closer to the truth. He was that large in spirit, as much as he would want to deny it.

Which leads to the sad yet truthful part of this docu, the awareness of how much psychic pain Brando was in for much of his life -- and this despite his sense of humor and urge to cut up now and again on and off the set. It seems he spent much of psychological and professional life wanting to obliterate himself as much as he could; he lived often in the land of reticence and denial.

"Brando" brings to light some sad facts of the man's interior life, and this is when and how the docu gets very, very good. The wonderfully intense and moody music is from Andrea Morricone.[/color]