Listen to Me Marlon (2015)

Review

This idiosyncratic documentary mirrors perfectly the idiosyncrasy of Marlon Brando himself – and will probably stand as the ultimate testament to the greatest movie actor of all time. With its anti-tabloid, at times anti-narrative structure, Listen to Me Marlon transports us into the mind and soul of Brando via extracts of the many hours of audio recordings Brando made of himself talking during his lifetime. In these recordings, Brando is more interested in the existential aspects of life than he is in actions and lifestyle, and more interested in the process of acting than in the movie business, which he more or less condemns. And while we get to share and digest his thoughts, British writer/director Stevan Riley expertly merges in interesting bits and pieces from Brando's professional and personal life, without ever needing to utilize traditional biopic or documentary tools. The result is a very original film, one of few films in this genre to be worth a second or third watch. Admittedly, the film will probably be more fascinating for fans of Brando and/or the art of acting in general, but who isn't just that if you're already interested in movies?