Both Paul Gauguin and sixty years later, Marlon Brando, found their Arcadia in Tahiti. Brando was drawn by the innocence he found in the pages of National Geographic, Gauguin by early 1800’s ethnographer’s accounts. In 1891, Gauguin announced he was travelling to Tahiti to paint illustrations for the most popular novel of the day, “The Marriage of Loti” saying the primitive, erotic living conditions on Tahiti would revive his muse. Of course, both men were escaping troubled domestic situations.
“Listen To Me Marlon” is a must see film for anyone who cares about acting. The good, the bad and the ugly are all here in Brando’s own words. And each of these ingredients is necessasary to form an actor, an artist of Brando’s caliber. He talks about going within, alone, in order to perform, to avoid the obvious and the lie in order to convince. The filmmakers had access to 200 hours of audio, self-hypnotism tapes included, and of course all those fabulous scenes from his movies. Oh yeah, and some goofy, early 3D computer modeling of Brando’s head, a perfect vehicle for reminding you that it is all a construct.
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