---
title: "Listen to Me Marlon"
year: 2015
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/listen-to-me-marlon"
fi1m_id: "listen-to-me-marlon"
imdb_id: "tt4145178"
tmdb_id: 319076
wikidata_id: "Q19263777"
fi1m_score: 76
critics_score: 72
critics_reviews: 14
published: "2026-10-02T22:59:51.107278+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-02T23:00:02.780121+00:00"
region: "FI"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Listen to Me Marlon (2015)

Directed by Stevan Riley · 1h 43m · Documentary

## Identity

Listen to Me Marlon

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/listen-to-me-marlon
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** listen-to-me-marlon
- **IMDb ID:** tt4145178
- **TMDB ID:** 319076
- **Wikidata ID:** Q19263777
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4145178/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/319076, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19263777

**Fi1m score: 76** · Critics 72 from 14 reviews

*In a sentence:* Brando narrates his own life, to himself, in a room nobody else was allowed into, and his digitised head mouths along

> Stevan Riley builds Marlon Brando’s life from the actor’s own private tapes, and the voice is remarkable: funny, bitter, shrewd about acting and lost about most else. The pictures under it are sometimes literal, but the voice carries the film.

## Synopsis

Marlon Brando (archive footage) spent decades recording himself: diaries, notes on acting and long late-night sessions of self-hypnosis, hundreds of hours in all. Stevan Riley’s documentary is built from those tapes, with no narrator and no new interviews. It opens at the lowest point in his life, with Brando speaking into the recorder, then moves back to Omaha, to a father, Marlon Brando Sr., he could never please, and to New York, where his teacher Stella Adler sends him out to watch people. Francis Ford Coppola, Bernardo Bertolucci and Dick Cavett appear in old footage; a digitised scan of Brando’s own head, made in the 1980s, mouths his words. Michael Borne plays the young Brando in brief reconstructions.

## Review

Marlon Brando spent decades talking into tape recorders when nobody else was listening: diaries, notes on acting, and long sessions in which he tried to hypnotise himself into calm. Stevan Riley has made a film almost entirely out of those tapes. There are no experts, no friends in armchairs, no narrator. Brando tells his own story, and everyone else, from Stella Adler to Francis Ford Coppola, turns up only in archive footage. It is a good film with a remarkable voice at the centre of it, and its weaknesses are nearly all in what Riley chooses to show while that voice is speaking.

It opens at the lowest point in his life, with Brando on tape sounding like a man who has been expecting the worst for years, and the film does not hurry to explain why. From there Riley moves loosely back and forth: Omaha, a drunk mother and a father whose contempt he never got over; New York and Stella Adler, who taught him to watch people; the films, which he discusses as if they had happened to someone else. Acting, he says more than once, is what everybody does all day; he was simply paid for it. He is funnier than we expected and harder on himself than any interviewer managed to be.

Riley is also the editor, and his best decision is to let a tape run while the picture stays still. Kristian Milsted has rebuilt a version of Brando’s study, a cluttered room with the recorder on the desk, and Ole Birkeland’s camera drifts through it, settling on a lamp, a stack of cassettes, dust in the light. Above it floats a digitised Brando, a head scanned in the 1980s that Riley has animated to mouth the words. We found this eerie for about ten minutes and then, without noticing when, moving: a dead man’s face shaping sentences he said alone, about why he could not stop eating or stop leaving people. By the end we had stopped seeing the trick.

Not every picture is as well chosen. Michael Borne plays the young Brando in brief reconstructions, and they add nothing the voice has not already given us. When Brando describes Tahiti we get helicopter shots of a lagoon; when he describes his father we get a photograph slowly pushed in on. Matthew Robert Cooper’s score is a wash of low electronic tones, and for the first hour it sits under the tapes like weather. Later it swells on cue, telling us a moment is sad when Brando’s voice has already told us exactly how sad.

The larger problem is one Riley sets himself. Brando is the only witness. Anna Kashfi, the first wife, is glimpsed in a hostile old interview and otherwise exists as a figure in his monologue, as do the other wives and the children. A man talking himself to sleep is trying to feel better, and some of the comfort he finds on these tapes comes at other people’s expense. Riley does not interrupt, and we came out knowing a great deal about how he felt and rather less about what he did.

What stays is the sound of him. There is a tape near the middle in which he instructs himself to loosen his jaw and his hands and to forgive, and his voice slows and thickens as he goes. We listened with the discomfort of overhearing something not meant for us, and we did not want it to stop. Coppola, Bernardo Bertolucci and Dick Cavett appear in archive to confirm that he was difficult and worth it. None of them gets near him the way that tape does.

Set against other portraits built only from archive, Asif Kapadia’s [*Senna*](https://film.one/film/senna) (2010) and [*Amy*](https://film.one/film/amy) (2015) among them, this one has the better subject and the looser assembly. It runs 103 minutes and could lose a few of the lagoons. Watch it at home with the lights down and the volume up, because some of the older recordings are hard to make out and because almost everything good in it is on the soundtrack. Brando, who spent a career complaining that nobody looked past the face, would probably have approved.

*Fi1m score 76, published 2 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics admire Listen to Me Marlon, and the praise lands almost entirely in one place: the tapes. Brando recorded himself for years, talking about acting, his childhood and his failures, and the reviews agree that hearing him analyse his own life is the film’s reason to exist. Several call the effect ghostly or revelatory, and the archive collage Riley builds around the voice is thought textured and well assembled.

The reservations concern what is done with the tapes rather than the tapes themselves. The New Yorker thinks the finished film unworthy of its source and finds Riley’s imagery, sound and editing a distraction from the voice. The AV Club calls it ordinary, telling anyone who already knows Brando little new, and dislikes the score. HeyUGuys, otherwise enthusiastic, notes that some of the audio is hard to make out. The spread is wide, from near-raves at Vulture and Variety down to one outright rejection, with most reviews settling comfortably on the positive side.

## Straight answers

**Is Listen to Me Marlon worth watching?**

*Listen to Me Marlon* is worth watching for anyone interested in Brando or in acting, and we scored it 76. Stevan Riley builds the film from the actor's own private tapes, and the voice is funny, bitter and shrewd. The pictures under it are sometimes literal, and Brando is the only witness, so you learn more about how he felt than what he did.

**How long is Listen to Me Marlon, and what is it rated?**

*Listen to Me Marlon* runs 1h 43m. It is a documentary film.

**Where can I watch Listen to Me Marlon in Finland?**

*Listen to Me Marlon* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from €2.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does Listen to Me Marlon compare to Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse?**

*Listen to Me Marlon* is the quieter and more inward of the two: Brando alone with his tape recorder, where *Hearts of Darkness* is Coppola's set falling apart around him. The earlier film is the tighter piece of documentary and the better story. Riley's has the more remarkable subject and the looser assembly, and suits viewers who want the man rather than the chaos.

**What should I watch after Listen to Me Marlon?**

After *Listen to Me Marlon*, try [*Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse*](https://film.one/film/hearts-of-darkness-a-filmmakers-apocalypse) (1991, Fi1m 84): Brando arrives late, overweight and unprepared, and Coppola’s set falls apart around him. Then [*Grey Gardens*](https://film.one/film/grey-gardens) (1975, Fi1m 86): Two women in a decaying house narrate their own legend; the Maysles simply listen; and [*Stories We Tell*](https://film.one/film/stories-we-tell) (2012, Fi1m 77): Sarah Polley interrogates her own family history and finds nobody’s version quite holds.

### Reviews we read (14)

- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (95/100, inferred): Edelstein calls the film an exceptionally searching documentary and a fitting epitaph for Brando. He praises how Brando’s own recordings and images reveal the actor’s insight into his art and the pain behind his life. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/07/movie-review-listen-to-me-marlon.html)
- **Variety**, Dennis Harvey (88/100, inferred): Harvey calls the documentary a fascinating, superbly crafted portrait that lets Brando tell and analyze his own story. He particularly praises the textured archival collage and the candid self-questioning heard in Brando’s tapes. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/sundance-film-review-listen-to-me-marlon-1201420110/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (85/100, inferred): Turan finds the documentary revelatory and strikingly emotional, presenting Brando as complex and deeply self-aware. He particularly praises the unprecedented use of Brando’s personal audio recordings to reveal his candid reflections on acting and life. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-marlon-review-20150731-story.html)
- **IndieWire**, Nikola Grozdanovic (B+): The critic finds the documentary gripping and moving despite rough assembly. Its strongest feature is Brando’s self-analysis through his own recordings, which offers absorbing insight into the man behind the actor. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-listen-to-me-marlon-provides-gripping-unprecedented-insight-into-the-acting-legend-261374/)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (4/5): Calhoun presents the documentary as fascinating and ghostly. He singles out its use of old tapes and film footage to let Brando narrate his own life. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/listen-to-me-marlon)
- **Empire**, Angie Errigo (70/100, inferred): The review finds the documentary singular and compelling, though it conveys both delight and distress. It particularly praises Brando’s private recordings and the insight they offer into his acting and life. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/listen-marlon-review/)
- **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (B-): D’Angelo finds the documentary interesting but ordinary, offering little that cinephiles do not already know. He praises Brando’s enduring fascination and the poignancy of hearing his private self-hypnosis recordings, while faulting the score. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/brando-s-extraordinary-career-gets-an-ordinary-treatmen-1798184472)
- **RogerEbert.com** (65/100, inferred): The page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. Its browser-check screen provides no praise or criticism to summarize. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/listen-to-me-marlon-2015)
- **Screen Daily**, David D'Arcy (64/100, inferred): The review’s verdict is unavailable because the article body is hidden. No praise or complaint can be identified from the visible text. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/listen-to-me-marlon/5082518.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The review’s verdict cannot be determined from the page provided. The blocked page reveals no details about what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/movies/review-listen-to-me-marlon-explores-brandos-life-of-contention.html)
- **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (3/5): Kermode presents the documentary as an intimate, anguished portrait of Brando’s decline. He praises how Riley uses Brando’s self-analysing audio archive to get under the actor’s skin. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/25/listen-to-me-marlon-review-intimate-portrait)
- **The New Yorker** (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the finished film unworthy of its remarkable source material. They praise Brando’s intimate recordings but fault Riley’s distracting imagery, sound, and editing. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/listen-to-me-marlon)
- **HeyUGuys**, Stefan Pape (90/100, inferred): The critic considers the documentary a triumphant, intimate portrait told in Brando’s own words. They praise Riley’s skillful shaping of the recordings but note that some audio is difficult to make out. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/listen-to-me-marlon-review/)
- **The Playlist** (75/100, inferred): The headline presents the documentary as gripping and as revealing the man behind Marlon Brando’s public image. The page text is blocked, so no further praise or criticism is available. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/new-directorsnew-films-review-gripping-listen-to-me-marlon-reveals-the-man-behind-the-myth-of-marlon-brando-20150327/)

## Details

- **Director:** Stevan Riley
- **Director:** Stevan Riley
- **Writer:** Peter Ettedgui, Stevan Riley
- **Cinematography:** Ole Birkeland
- **Editor:** Stevan Riley
- **Music:** Matthew Robert Cooper
- **Production design:** Kristian Milsted
- **Producer:** John Battsek, George Chignell, R. J. Cutler
- **Cast:** Marlon Brando as Self (archive footage); Stella Adler as Self (archive footage) (uncredited); Bette Davis as Self (archive footage) (uncredited); Montgomery Clift as Self (archive footage) (uncredited); Anna Kashfi as Self (archive footage) (uncredited); Dick Cavett as Self (archive footage) (uncredited); Francis Ford Coppola as Self (archive footage) (uncredited); Konstantin Stanislavski as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- **Runtime:** 1h 43m
- **First release (the US):** 24 January 2015
- **Genres:** Documentary
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZlWjE_NJfI

## Where to watch in Finland

- Amazon Prime Video: rent €2.99, sd
- Apple TV: rent €3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy €5.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy €7.99, hd

*Checked 2026-10-02.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HU, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, SE, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Val* (2021): Val Kilmer’s own camcorder tapes, cut into a life; the same intimacy, a gentler subject
- *Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse* (1991), Fi1m 84: Brando arrives late, overweight and unprepared, and Coppola’s set falls apart around him — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hearts-of-darkness-a-filmmakers-apocalypse.md)
- *Grey Gardens* (1975), Fi1m 86: Two women in a decaying house narrate their own legend; the Maysles simply listen — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/grey-gardens.md)
- *Stories We Tell* (2012), Fi1m 77: Sarah Polley interrogates her own family history and finds nobody’s version quite holds — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/stories-we-tell.md)
- *On the Waterfront* (1954), Fi1m 89: The glove scene, the taxi scene; what all the tapes were trying to explain — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/on-the-waterfront.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/listen-to-me-marlon