Every person is unique, but some stand out more for their uniqueness. Sylvester Stallone is one of them.
Through his work, one could guess that he had a difficult childhood. Without saying it explicitly, the 77-year-old man says in Sly that he and his brother Frank were beaten by their father. The relationship between their often absent parents was stormy. The brothers found refuge in cinemas.
The years have transformed their favorite distraction into a professional goal. But the roles are rare and come down to brute characters of few words. Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone writes. If no one wants to hire him to tell his story, he’s going to do it himself. The story of Rocky interests various studios, but they only want the script and an actor of their choice in the title role. Stallone persists. And won the Oscar for best film, in addition to citations for best actor and best screenplay.
Nearly a third of Sly is dedicated to the creation of Rocky then to the fame that the 1976 film brought to the actor. It’s interesting to hear him speak about the challenges of producing the feature film and managing success afterwards. We also understand that the essence of the Rocky series is drawn from the life of its creator: the violence of his childhood, his dreams, his failures. The same goes for the character of Rambo, an even more brutal side of his psyche.
The testimonies of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Quentin Tarantino and the critic Wesley Morris are particularly relevant to explain the years 1980-1990 during which Stallone made a series of films of varying quality. However, the number of speakers is limited considering the actor’s long career. The more the documentary progresses, the more we only hear Stallone. He repeats himself and his words gradually resemble those of a motivator. In addition to cuts in the editing, the contribution of recent colleagues and his family is missing.
Thom Zimny, who has made documentaries on Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson as well as several Bruce Springsteen music videos, filmed the interviews with his subject during his move. We see countless statues, figurines, busts, paintings and other works depicting characters from the Stallone universe being carefully packaged. Sly mentions that he’s at a point in his life where he needs a change of scenery to keep moving forward. He therefore left California to return to his native New York.
For him it may be significant, but for us it is not at all.
Documentary
Sly VF: Sly: Stallone by Stallone
Thom Zimny
With Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Quentin Tarantino
1:35 a.m.
On Netflix