Product: Last Tango in Paris (1973)
Rating: 5.0
Brando and Paris
I saw this movie not long after it was released,I was stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base,close to San Francisco.I was fresh from Vietnam and 21 years old.Brando's brillant performance was considered scandalous at the time.In 1973,I found Bertolucci's vision of middle age a bit over-the-top. I could not connect to Paul,or Brando as Paul.I did connect to the look and colors of the film.....Now,at the age of 56 I can better understand the simple,hard,truth that lies within this film.Director Bertolucci,uses "Last Tango"to use Brando as a messenger for the despondent,depressed,and greiving throngs of humans,who realize they have less time than more to satisfy this short life.Brando uses the camera,the camera uses Brando,he looks washed out,emotioned out,all broke up,a broken man waiting for an end to his shoddy,dirty little life.Bertolucci and Brando,leads us through the suicidal streets of Paris,where vintage apartment buildings stand drab against the gray sky and hold apartments that hold renters divorced from life,aliens, hiding and listening behind the massive oak doors,as death stalks the halls,sometimes he carries a straight razor,(Don't stop cutting until you feel the blood running).Bertolucci shows us,the viewers,ourselves,post youth,middle aged,as we realize another cannot find the happiness you so crave,you must find happiness within yourself,the rest is easy,then Paris will become,as ever,the city of light...