Listen to Me Marlon: Doc offers intimate portait of troubled actor

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Early in Stevan Riley's artful and unusually first-hand documentary on Marlon Brando, the man who was perhaps the greatest film actor of his generation recites Macbeth: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Some sound. Some fury! Using film clips, archival footage and a stash of Brando's personal audio recordings, Riley has created an elegant collage and poetic illumination – something of a self-eulogy from a troubled, isolated and sad actor. A product of ill-suited parents, Brando comes across as broken, conflicted and soulful, with Tahiti and his self-made hypnosis cassettes his only hope for serenity. Listen to Me Marlon is an offer so intimate that no film fan should refuse. – Brad Wheeler