Naturalistic acting “The Method”, Marlon Brando, and The Godfather. Impacts and thoughts that they invoked in me.
“Mhm.. Give this to er..Clemenza. I want reliable people, people, that are not gonna be carried away…” The Don said to Tom Hagen, his consigliere (pronounced conciliery). His mannerisms are stereotypical, a slight scratch on the center of his scull, a sidelong glance at his consigliere that stays for a second, a subtle nod and an authoritative instruction given with delicate hand movements. His voice is deep and grating, his face solemn.
This is one of the many scenes from the seventies’ blockbuster film, The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo. The film is about a Don, with the Italian descent, who happens to land in the US, and build up his family of gamblers there. There are a number of other families as well in various cities across the States that compete with each other, and the Don, Vito Corleone, is the chief of one and the most powerful of them. His business is mainly gambling. He has a generous heart that goes out to his friends (only his true friends), who call him affectionately, “Godfather”. His enemies fear him, for what he is.
The remarkable part of the Don in the film was enacted on the silver screen by noted actor and two time academy award winner, Marlon Brando. Brando was one of the finest exponents of the naturalistic style of acting, first advocated and theorized by Konstantin Stanislavsky, the most reputed Russian actor and director. It is based on this style known later as “the Method” that most actors even now follow. Marlon Brando secured an academy award for his portrayal in this film. The novel which is ranked among the best of American novels of the twentieth century, was a publication event as well. Puzo, known for no other previous work, became a legendary author with this one piece of writing.
The most noted thing in all the film was perhaps Brando’s enaction of the role of the godfather. And he rightly stands out in the whole picture with a masterful performance. His highly influencing and subtle style was infective. God knows how many millions were influenced by his ways and naturally started walking, talking and producing mannerisms alike his. A good instance was in front of me when I got my first job at Accenture Chennai. There was my program manager to whom I felt lot of respect and affection. And a month later I watched the film, The Godfather for the first time. And I virtually saw my manager all through the film, only this time the face was another, so was the voice. They belonged to a master of acting, whose influence was clearly on my manager.
Brando’s acting, as I see it.
Brando is far, far different from the other so called actors who shout, deliver dialogues with firmness, depth of voice that borders on noise, and movements and expressions which most of the time are elements of plain overreactions. All this is due to a misconception related to acting as far as I can fathom. What I feel about acting, is a very plain and clear. We see and learn how to act by living, by experiencing life. We live, and each play a role in life, the role which we are born to play. What I mean is we cannot see an actor acting the role of a lunatic better than a lunatic. We cannot see an actor acting the role of a common man better than the common men we see and feel around us everywhere. Different types of men, different feelings, cultures and outlooks, but I believe that all have one or other trait common in them. The traits that come of their living in the society, evolving from their understanding of the expressions, movements and feelings of their elders. The traits that are firmly instilled in them that they can’t change by trying any harder. All these traits are there in any actor as well, as they are in any ordinary human being. This is universal; even an animal shows the traits of its kind, correct? So what does this come down to? Everyone is an actor, but born to enact a single role.
And a professional actor is far more precise and better if he trusts his instincts, reactions and feelings and coordinates them to those of the character he is playing. So simply explained, and yet only a few masters of the order of Brando are able to produce it in effect. Look at Brando; he is silent, non-aggresive, and grave. Yet, when he speaks, no one else speaks let alone contradict. His face bears the expression of a leader, an unchallenged one, a generous, respected and lovable dictator. A dictator to whom anyone feels empathy and subservience in earnest. What is this effect? Many people might wonder. There is a personal aura and a power that oozes out of his person and even transcends the bounderies of the movie screen affecting the brains of the viewers far and wide in the world; a kind of virtual hypnotism. And the audience sit spellbound at each of his dialogue, expression, and reaction which is still so normal and commonplace. A rare faculty of being authoritative and modest at the same time.
Well, I guess modesty explains his instinct as a common man; most common men are very modest in real life. If you look into any government office, private organization or any such body, you will see professionals, businesspersons of the same characteristics as those seen in Godfather. Yes, the godfather is a true businessman, and his mannerisms are businesslike. Yet he is a highly generous and paradoxically ruthless. That is what I saw in Brando, going deep down into the character of the godfather. His manners in most of the places reminded me of a common businessman, who feels smug, and important. His adept gestures are explained by no less a term than subtle. The subtlety is an inborn character of any human being, present even in a baby. At most times, we do things rather subtly and never realize it. A close observer in Brando must have watched and studied these traits, and experimented them in his style of acting. He made it big through The Godfather.
What is style
In acting, there definitely is style. I would say Brando has a style of acting that may be called naturalistic. And many other actors have similar styles that may or may not be naturalistic. For instance, I wouldnt say Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan act in a naturalistic manner. I would definitely not say so with Rajnikanth, not also with Sivaji Ganeshan. These actors are all more or less aggressive in their styles and try to exploit the loudness of expressions than calmness. An actor with calmness of expressions is very rare in Indian industry, I guess. But in America, we can find so many examples. The ones that come into my mind are Denzel Washington, and Bruce Willis. Willis, though, is a macho superstar, seems more to be simple and modest with his dialogues, with occasional shouts in his swashbuckling. Most his dialogues are delivered with a persistent calmness.
Loudness never makes an actor in any way a bad actor, and many actors with loudness of style are great masters of their craft. One great example is Jack Nicholson, my personal favorite, whose expressions, I guess are very loud and overpowering. Still his expressions, characterization and movements which are most precise make him more or less a perfect star.
Brando definitely is a loner in his profession, and I have, to date, seen no other man anywhere that emulates or even tries his theroies in acting. That makes me a bit cheerless for sure. May future bring more Brandos to us.
My heartfelt tributes to him.
Links:
Posted by vjlenin 