Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
IN CINEMAS ON OCTOBER 23rd2015,
ON DIGITAL HD ON 9TH NOVEMBER,
AND AVAILABLE ON DVD & BLU-RAY FROM
30TH NOVEMBER
From British director Stevan Riley (Fire in
Babylon, Everything or Nothing) and award-winning producer John Battsek (Searching
for Sugarman, Restrepo) comes LISTEN TO ME MARLON – an insightful,
captivating portrait of one of the most iconic and complex individuals of this
century. LISTEN TO ME MARLON is a creative odyssey into the mind and
motivations of Marlon Brando. Brando’s own voice leads the storytelling - there
are no interviewees, no talking heads, just Marlon guiding us into the
padlocked recesses of his own memory, and through the story of his life.
In homage to the corkscrew personality of its subject,
previously unheard audio tapes reveal witty and unexpected turns of Marlon’s
thinking; dipping between light and dark, humour and self-psychoanalysis. The
non-linear approach leaps and drifts back and forth in chronology to help
illustrate memory’s haunting effect on the present. Visually the film conveys
hypnotic states and quixotic departures as we lose ourselves in Brando’s spoken
daydreams, playful asides and confiding whispers.
As Marlon looks back on his legendary career, film clips are
woven alongside personal archive; the young Brando’s electrifying looks, raw
performances and brooding charm put us entirely under his spell. In mid-life
his meteoric comeback continues to resonate, while the reclusive exile of later
years offers up rare flashes of acting brilliance from a waning supernova. The
film draws narrative parallels between Marlon’s screen performances and
personal life, and as these become increasingly blurred his entire life becomes
the stage. Throughout, Marlon provides a surprising range of insights – from
his revolutionary methodology, to his relationship with his father to his
politics. What emerges is Brando’s intellectual introspection, humour and
sensitivity; a man in perpetual search for moral clarity.
(Click here for Cinema Retro review of American release of the film).