The Marlon Brando performance John Waters is obsessed with: “It’s staggering”
When does something that appears, at least on the surface, to be categorically bad become good? Perhaps you should ask John Waters.
Waters is an icon, adored by many and heralded for the developments he has made as a titan of queer cinema. But when you look at his early work, defined by over-the-top acting performances and shoddy handheld filming, can you call that cinematic excellence? I certainly would call it such – Waters has left a lasting impression on me like few other filmmakers – but objectively speaking, Pink Flamingos and Mondo Trasho aren’t exactly Metropolis or Casablanca.
The beauty of his work can be found in its sheer honesty, authenticity, and rebellion against expectation. When he emerged on the scene, stoned out of his mind but desperate to disturb the normal folk, Waters caused a cinematic earthquake; everything shifted, and nothing was the same again.
One of the key facets of Waters’ artistic practice is his appreciation of both high and low-brow art, finding worth in the trashiest and most shocking movies and music. It’s this that allows him to let go of all expectations, channelling fierce social commentary through outrageous and camp performances.
In fact, Waters really can’t get enough of the kinds of performances that toe the line between being terrific and absolutely awful. I mean, he was literally able to make a star of Divine despite the fact that every performance was deliciously amateur, the actor’s mannerisms always exaggerated to an absurd degree.
So, when you hear Waters call a certain Marlon Brando performance “staggering,” don’t expect him to pick A Streetcar Named Desire or The Godfather. No, in an interview with Index Magazine, Waters picked out The Island of Dr Moreau as the performance he can’t get out of his head, although he can’t decide if it’s amazingly good or amazingly bad.
“Well, have you seen Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr Moreau? It’s a great, the most staggering performance that came out this year. It got some of the meanest reviews ever. I thought it was a great … it was the closest to Divine I’ve ever seen another actor,” he said.
Brando’s performance in the film was highly controversial, with the actor, now a lot larger than he was in his prime and reluctant to learn his lines, criticised by many viewers. How was this the same person who had delivered performances in the likes of On the Waterfront and Apocalypse Now?
When asked why he liked the performance, Waters explained, “Well, it took chances. I mean, in one scene, he wears an ice bucket on his head. He weighs about 350 pounds. He wears Kabuki makeup for no apparent reason. It’s just a very curious choice. I think it’s a staggering performance. It’s either the best performance or the worst, and I’ll never know which.”
Brando’s performance was career-defining for all the wrong reasons, but Waters will forever be impressed by the actor’s ridiculous foray into such a terrible cinematic endeavour, which sat somewhere between disastrous and camp excellence.
