You want the truth!?

I saw the film Last Tango In Paris last night (and it was excellent), and I had a thought. Yes, just one. In the movie, Marlon Brando plays a man whose wife has just committed suicide, and he enters into a self-effacing affair with a young woman. Now, there’s a scene where Marlon visits the body of his wife, and starts to berate her, just a torrent of obscenities, that gives way to a weeping, pathetic appeal. This scene reminded me very strongly of a scene in Magnolia (possibly my favorite film), where Tom Cruise’s character confronts his dying father, and also unleashes a vitriolic attack that degenerates into childish weeping. The similarity of both scenes struck me with this thought: Tom Cruise is the new Marlon Brando! Think about it; Brando was a famous, critically lauded, popular actor whose talent became overshadowed by his increasingly eccentric personal life. Sounds like Tom to me! You can’t go to a supermarket without seeing fifty magazines talking about how crazy he is, nor turn on the TV without hearing about one of his crazy interviews. I think he’s just getting started. I think weirder on-set behavior, many marriages, massive weight gain and private islands are all in his future. Scientology is a fabulous start.