Listen to Me Marlon

Greetings from Lithuania.

I was dying to see "Listen to Me Marlon" (2015) from the first moment i heard about it. I won't lie - i'm a huge Marlon Brando fan so i was really looking forward to see a good documentary about the man himself. "Listen to Me Marlon" is a superb experience. Experience, because it is not a traditional straightforward biopic documentary. It is told by Brando himself, using audiotapes that he was recording during his life. We do get so see glimpses and most important aspects from his life from a childhood till the end. It shows a bit about the infamous movies he made. But more it is about listening to his thoughts, and they are haunting. It is like listening to extended version of Kurtz himself.

Overall, i highly enjoyed "Listen to Me Marlon". It is informative, superbly paced and very self confident and fascinating documentary. It is a haunting experience, not for everyone i guess, but if you liked the acting of this screen legend and would like to go a bit beyond the face of a man, "Listen to Me Marlon" is a must see.

I loved it, a very interesting and original way to to know more about Marlon Brando's life

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.

This documentary is full of many bits and pieces from Brando's life and career. I found it all most fascinating, and agree it's a good documentary.

What I found less fulfilling was the choice to use a patchwork approach to its formal structure It jumped around quite a bit, skimming over surfaces; I would have preferred a more chronological, in-depth approach--but that's my own opinion.

For instance, Brando got a lot of "bad press flack" for his so-called "erratic behavior" in "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Apacolypse Now." This documentary had an opportunity to clarify the controversy, but didn't.

What was a treat, though, was viewing live footage of Stellar Adler at work in the formative U.S. stages of teaching the "Method," along with samplings of Stanislavsky's initial philosophy on acting technique.

The inclusion of scene clips from Brando's various films were also engaging, though a number of his films were omitted (perhaps by not having the studios' approval). The reported clash between Brando's training and Chaplin's directing style was also not covered, only snippets from "A Countess from Hong Kong" were shown.

Finally, Brando's having a 3D image of his likeness was shown, but it wasn't made too clear exactly what he envisioned the final utilized product would be. Again, this documentary brought up many fascinating topics and then didn't really demonstrate their significance.

On leaving this film, I thought, "here's a topic that could be made into a larger, three-part work and probably still have much footage to spare."

Not just a bio-documentary. Far beyond that... Listen to Me Marlon is the presentation of a legend... AS A MAN... By the own legend...

To younger people, such as myself, Marlon Brando was Don Vito Corleone (The Godfather), Colonel Kurtz (Apocalypse Now), Stanley (A Streetcar Named Desire), among many other great performances. But who was the man behind those iconic characters?

In Listen to Me Marlon, is delivered a compilation of many recordings by the actor to the actor himself. I don't think that he would be very pleased to have such tapes out there!

Troubled, charming, talented, politically engaged, passionate... The many faces of the man. Of the liar. When would I imagine that the man who played Don Vito Corleone and Colonel Kurtz, had problems with Francis Ford Coppola? And the tragedies of his personal life? How could I think about Brando as a ordinary guy?

He was no ordinary. And his tapes show it very clearly. Marlon was one unique human being. NO! Not one, two or even more... Marlon talks to himself. But himself is not Marlon... He was no ordinary...

As an art, the movie is beautiful. Not a typical boring documentary, with some footage, a couple interviews, and so and so. The director Stevan Riley was able to capture so many beautiful shots alongside with the music and the very voice of the actor. Flawless...

I know now many more than I ever imagined about Marlon Brando. And now it's like the experience of watching his work means to open so many other doors... Flawless bio-doc. It's a must see if you are interest in the motion picture industry as a whole.