The Mystique of Marlon Brando

Friday, April 27-----Last evening, the audience at a packed screening theater at Pace University had a singular treat.....the world premiere screening of a documentary portrait of the most influential actor of the past century. BRANDO, directed by Leslie Greiff and Mimi Friedmann, is an exhaustive three-hour study of Marlon Brando....the man, his talent and his demons. The film was produced by Turner Classic Movies, which will show the film in two parts next week, as part of its "star of the month" tribute to Brando.

From his iconic roles in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One and On the Waterfront to the his late career triumphs in Last Tango in Paris, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Brando brought a unique mix of raw, surprising, dynamic humanity to everything that he did. Three years after his death, the legendary actor remains a mystery. Some of the answers are explored in this fascinating new documentary, which intersperses interviews with friends Martin Scorsese, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Al Pacino, Jane Fonda, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Bernardo Bertolucci and Arthur Penn with unseen footage--including his Rebel Without a Cause screen test (a role he lost to James Dean) and never-before-seen home movies-----all pieces to a puzzle that illuminate the man behind the image.

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Online Dailies Editor