Albert Maysles

Yesterday Jon gave me a free ticket to the Toronto Film Festival's Mavericks Series featuring Albert Maysles.

Maysles, who along with his brother David, were among the leaders of Cinema Verite in the 1960s. He is credited with the invention of "direct cinema".

Notable titles include: Gimme Shelter, Muhammad & Larry, Grey Gardens, and the documentationof installation pieces by Christo. He also has a documentary on The Life Aquatic DVD.

The event screened two Mayles films the highlight being the candid and hilarious, Meet Marlon Brando. The Maysles brothers filmed Marlon Brando during a press junket. Brando, who seemed to spend most of his time hitting on the female interviewers, also presented his take-no-shit attitude and managed to give the Hollywood a solid kick in the ass. Here's one of many examples:

Interviewer: "It's a wonderful film, Mr. Brando."
Brando: "You've seen it?"
Interviewer: (now bewildered) "Uh, no."
Brando: "Well how do you know?"

The rights are owned by the Brando Estate, so the availablility of the print may be difficult. Jon had never seen it and had only heard of it. In my experience, if Jon hasn't seen a movie it's likely that it isn't in DVD or video release. I highly recommend watching it if you can catch it at a university screening or on an obscure DVD.

The screening was followed by a Q & A session moderated by Robert Koehler. The 78 year old director answered questions clearly and with a ton of great backstory. He actually answered questions and digressions always looped back to his point and original question. It was fascinating to watch and I was lucky to be one of the hundred or so people who thoroughly enjoyed themselves.