Waltzing with Brando (2024) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

"Waltzing with Brando" is a biographical drama film based on the book "Waltzing with Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti" by Bernard Judge. Written and directed by Bill Fishman ("Tapeheads", "My Dinner with Jimi") and starring Billy Zane and Jon Heder, it features some decent performances from its two lead actors that are hampered by nearly every other creative decision.In 1969 in Los Angeles, Bernard Judge (Jon Heder) works as an architect specialising in designing projects that can survive even the harshest of conditions. One day, Bernard is tasked by his company to create an environmentally friendly retreat on a small private Tahitian island owned by a mysterious occupant. Upon arriving in Tahiti, Bernard finds his way to the Tetiaroa Atoll, where he discovers that his client is none other than the famous actor Marlon Brando (Billy Zane), who entrusts him with creating an ideal paradise resort on the tiny island. Over the course of five years, Bernard works around the clock trying to ensure that the secluded retreat is built to the actor's specifications, all while Brando returns to Hollywood to act in what would become some of his best known movies.If there were ever a classic Hollywood star who truly embodied the very notion of "method acting", it would have to be Marlon Brando. For over 60 years, Brando's unique, pioneering acting style has helped solidify his legacy as not only an influential figure in pop culture, but also as what many would consider to be one of the greatest screen actors of all time. Off camera, Brando was known for his eccentricities that gave him a reputation for being difficult to work with, as well as giving him an air of mystery among the general public. One of Brando's most outlandish accomplishments was buying an island in Tahiti to have his own luxury resort built there, and the film "Waltzing with Brando" tries to show us this in a surprisingly flat and uninvolving manner.Though the film does begin on a fairly promising note, it unfortunately runs out of steam pretty quickly. The year is 1969 and we are introduced to Bernard Judge, who addresses the audience directly from his plane seat. Bernard informs us that he is a Los Angeles-based architect whose speciality is designing things that are able to withstand hostile elements, something that has helped him build quite a reputation among the rich elite. Because of this, Bernard reveals that he was once tasked with working on something for one of the most famous actors in history; Marlon Brando. This sets the rest of the story up as a sort of "buddy" pairing between Bernard and Brando, which should work on paper, but ultimately does not lead anywhere interesting on screen.Later, as the film attempts to take us through Bernard's working relationship with Marlon Brando, the former realises that his client's vision for an island retreat that is intended to be luxurious and eco-friendly in a tropical climate is less feasible than he had anticipated. Various issues regarding the weather, location, and the cost of importing construction equipment to this tiny island start to mount, yet Brando has faith in Bernard and insists it should be a possibility. At this point, the film becomes a repetitive collection of scenes featuring Bernard arguing with his bosses back in Los Angeles, Bernard's family life falling apart due to his frequent absences, and Brando engaging in his notoriously odd behaviour like pretending to have run over a local in his car. While I think these moments did provide some intermittent entertainment, they are so sloppily edited together that it's hard to remember almost all of them by the time the movie has finished.In addition to the poor editing, the film's biggest problem is its mediocre screenplay and direction. Bill Fishman, whose best known work before this movie was the cult film "Tapeheads", seems to have no idea how to properly structure this story in a way that can maintain the audience's attention until the very end. For instance, the scenes with Brando interacting with people never properly take advantage of the fact that he is a famous Hollywood star in a location unbefitting to where he would normally be. For most of the movie, Brando looks bored and stoic, occasionally broken by him making a dry conversational quip or pulling a prank on Bernard. As a result, I never really felt like Brando was someone beyond his acting persona, instead just a parody of who the general public views him as.It also doesn't help that Fishman fails to immerse the viewer in the tropical climate of Tahiti, something that should be an otherwise easy task for most other directors. Many shots of the waves lapping at the shore and the characters swimming in the beaches or lagoons don't feel captivating in the way one might hope to see. Instead, they all felt more like I was watching someone else's holiday videos; exciting for the people in the footage but not for the person being made to watch it. Admittedly, there was one scene where the film's tropical atmosphere worked that I liked where Brando pranks Bernard by pretending to land a 747 Jumbo Jet on a small runway on the island, but this has no major bearing on the plot.The only real reason I was drawn to watching this movie in the first place was to see Billy Zane's performance as Marlon Brando, and in spite of the film's blatant shortcomings, I would say that it was mostly worth it for just that. I can't help but admire the great job the makeup department did in making Zane resemble the legendary actor, and his imitation of Brando's voice was also spot-on. The problem here is that the film doesn't really give Zane much opportunity to flesh out his depiction of Brando beyond a simple caricature. Sure, there are brief scenes where we get to see Zane recreate iconic moments from "The Godfather" and "Last Tango in Paris", but they are so short that it almost feels as though they were only included to either pad out the runtime or not let all of the expensive makeup go to waste.Also, Jon Heder tries his best in the secondary role as Bernard Judge, but again, the film's weak screenplay doesn't allow him to stand out as much as he should. Granted, playing second fiddle to Marlon Brando in any movie was always going to be a tall order, yet here it comes across as especially apparent. I wanted to learn more about Bernard's family back home and how he became so well known among the architecture community, but the film offers nothing substantial for Heder to work with. It's a huge shame because Heder has never had the chance to flourish as an actor beyond "the guy who played Napoleon Dynamite", and a film like this certainly hasn't done him any favours.Burdened by many of its obvious problems, "Waltzing with Brando" squanders away nearly every one of the great opportunities it has at its disposal. It saddens me that a film like this could go to all the effort to feature Billy Zane as Marlon Brando at the forefront of its story, yet it does nothing fun or interesting with this idea. If the film had a better script and director at the helm, perhaps it might have been worth recommending to others but I can only do so to mildly curious viewers out there. Even with all that in mind, I can't say you'll be missing much.I rate it 5.5/10.

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by MrDHWong 6 / 10

Features some decent performances from its two lead actors that are hampered by nearly every other creative decision

Reviewed by Joe-6535 6 / 10

Waited forever and it was a letdown

Seem like I waited years for this to come out! I've always been a big Brando fan like a lot of people and Billy Zane resembled him almost eerily Well. Once you start watching the movie though you find out that there's really no interesting script other than them trying to complete the Island that he wanted to live on. Billy Zane's betrayal of Brando was pretty boring, and bland as well but he's never been the greatest of actors. I don't know it could have been great but they seemed like they phoned it in like most crap in Hollywood these days!

Reviewed by streubertyler 8 / 10

This film serves as Marlon Brando's quintessential biopic of the last half of his life, that's still quite captivating whether or not you know who he is. Billy Zane is absolutely transcendent; there were many times that I forgot that Marlon Brando wasn't actually on the screen. What caught me by surprise, however, was that it was not just a biopic about Brando, but also documented the budding friendship between Marlon Brando and Jon Heder's character. The chemistry between Zane and Heder is palpable and really serves as the glue for the movie in its entirety. I would love to see these two in a buddy cop movie!There's a little bit of cheesy dialogue (more fault in the writer than the actors), some narration and talking to the camera (which I don't particularly care for), and are times where the movie feels a little long, but all-in-all, this film was entertaining, informative, and funny. I definitely think it would be worth anyone's time to watch it.

Waltzing with Brando

2024

Action / Drama

Waltzing with Brando

2024

Action / Drama

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Movie Reviews

Features some decent performances from its two lead actors that are hampered by nearly every other creative decision

Waited forever and it was a letdown

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