December 8, 2004
WHERE 'EVERYONE IS ACTING INSTEAD OF BEING': "Still another mix of brilliance and narcissism was Marlon Brando. Mr. Thomson describes the famous scene between the superstar and Rod Steiger in "On the Waterfront." Doing the close-ups, Brando acted while Steiger fed him his lines off-camera. When it was Rod's turn, Marlon suddenly absented himself. He had to see his therapist. According to the Method, one's own emotional crises must fuse with those of the character being impersonated. Notes Mr. Thomson wisely, Brando's style of self-indulgence was "nonsense that could yet destroy a society, as well as an approach that drags down art or story telling or entertainment." For "when enough people take some malaise as a right, the result is a society in which everyone is acting instead of being."
-- STEFAN KANFER writing in a review at OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts
Posted by Vanderleun at December 8, 2004 11:22 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.