Plot: Movie star Marlon Brando recruits a Los Angeles architect to build the world’s first ecologically perfect retreat on a small, uninhabited island in Tahiti.
Review: Marlon Brando is a legendary figure in the history of cinema. From his countless awards and iconic performances, audiences have learned to view Brando as a figure of legend rather than a real person. For several months, we have been teased with photos of Billy Zane’s amazing transformation into the actor for Waltzing with Brando, in which the Titanic actor immerses himself much in the same way Brando did in every performance he gave. The result is an amazing turn by Zane that is as impressive as hoped. The film is a light bit of entertainment that sheds some light on Marlon Brando’s environmental beliefs and his idyllic home in Tahiti, rather than a deep dive into his masterful film roles. While it may not be the authoritative biopic many expected, Waltzing with Brando is still enjoyable.
Waltzing with Brando is a tale of two men. While Brando’s name is in the title, he is often a supporting player in the story, which centers on architect Bernard Judge (Jon Heder). Bernard is hired by developer Jack Berlin (Rob Corddry) to build a hotel and resort in Tahiti, sending the straight-laced and by-the-book architect to the tropical paradise in search of an appropriate plot of land to start construction. When he arrives, Bernie befriends Marlon Brando, who lives without restraints. Brando speaks openly of his disdain for Hollywood and wants nothing more than to drink, play music, and have children in his perfect paradise. Slowly, Bernie begins to warm to Tahiti’s loose lifestyle, leading to his eventual firing by Berlin. Brando and Bernie then partner to build a dream home for the actor on his privately owned island atoll, Tetiaroa. That partnership becomes the centerpiece for the rest of the film.
While Bernie must contend with being far away from his wife, Dana (Alaina Huffman), and daughter, Marlon learns from his financial advisor Seymour Kraft (Richard Dreyfuss) that the cost of bringing infrastructure to the remote South Pacific atoll will cost more than he has. Brando then decides to take his now classic role of Vito Corleone in The Godfather. The still images of Billy Zane from these sequences are even more impressive in action, but they also show the dichotomy between Brando on and off-screen. Billy Zane portrays Brando as a bon vivant in his personal life, unafraid of nudity, drugs, or even trying to distill his own urine into potable drinking water. A fervent environmentalist and reluctant artist, Waltzing with Brando shows a different side of the actor than many have seen. This is even more striking in computer-enhanced footage of interviews Brando did with Dick Cavett and Johnny Carson that show the wild and fun personality Brando has in Tahiti, turned into a quiet and introspective person when the cameras roll. While Billy Zane is sensational at mimicking Brando in scenes from Last Tango in Paris, Superman: The Movie, and Apocalypse Now, he does his best work in the scenes shared with Jon Heder, where he shows Brando as a friendly, loving, and very strange guy who is nothing like the unapproachable behemoth we see in classic films.
While Zane’s performance is the scene-stealer, Waltzing with Brando is centered on Jon Heder’s character. Bernard Judge was a real person who befriended Marlon Brando and helped him build his passion project on Tetiaroa. Heder is a good everyman opposite Zane’s larger-than-life Brando, but seeing the different caliber of performances from the two men is often jarring. Heder’s Bernie often breaks the fourth wall. He delivers narration right to the audience, with some moments serving as a reflection on his relationship with the actor and other times to explain complex scientific or architectural jargon. The rest of the supporting cast, including Camille Razat as Michele and Tia Carrere in a brief role as Madame Leroy, are all very light and breezy without much purpose but to pad the cast around Zane and Heder. Everyone is good but the material is so light that when moments turn serious, it is hard to take them seriously.
Writer and director Bill Fishman, best known for directing Tapeheads and Car 54, Where Are You?, based Waltzing with Brando on the memoir of the same name by Bernard Judge. Production on the film took place on the island of Tetiaroa, now home to a sustainable resort known as The Brando as well as a foundation to which some of this film’s proceeds will be sent. The tropical island scenes are fun and have no real stakes to them as only Bernie seems to actually care if his and Brando’s plan comes to fruition. Fishman went to the effort to cast actors to portray Francis Ford Coppola and director Bernardo Bertolucci but neither has any impact other than to provide context. Brando’s infamous Oscar stand-in, Sacheeen Littlefeather, gets a scene recreating her accepting Brando’s Best Actor trophy, but it again is just to serve as illustration to the man’s personality. I wanted to know more about Brando but he serves as more of a presence than a character in this film that bears his last name.
With countless biopics over the years delivering everything from puff pieces to unbiased and unflattering portraits, Waltzing with Brando will instead go down less as a story of the famed actor’s life but more as a comedy-drama about a true story involving Marlon Brando. I enjoyed watching Waltzing with Brando for what it is: a light piece of entertainment about a curious chapter in the life of a Hollywood icon. Take it as more than that and you will be left disappointed. Everyone in the cast seems to be having fun, especially Billy Zane who channels Marlon Brando in a way that few actors could have pulled off as well. Waltzing with Brando is never going to be mistaken as the quality of the films we associate with the height of Marlon Brando’s career, but it is a far cry from the low points in his filmography.
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