To say that Francis Ford Coppola is a master at what he does is an understatement, the man has given his heart to all of his projects, some have been box office failures and some have been masterpieces. His Godfather pictures were a standard to live up to for a very long time, the man has given us several big stars, where would Al Pacino be if he had not starred as Michael Corleone? Now he brings us another young man to watch, Alden Ehrenreich will remind you of a young Leonardo DiCaprio. "Tetro" will appeal to most movie goers but may lack the action to get a wide audience and that is a shame, this is an almost perfect movie to watch.
17-year-old Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) arrives in Buenos Aires to search for his older brother Tetro (Vincent Gallo), he has been in hiding for several years, it seems that Tetro gave up on the family and just went away on a sabbatical that never ended. The family had emigrated from Italy to Argentina, but with the great musical success of their father Carlo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), an acclaimed symphony conductor, the family moved from Argentina to New York and there is where every thing went amiss. What Bennie finds when he arrives at the apartment of Tetro and his girlfriend Miranda (Maribel Verdú) is not what he had hoped for or expected. Tetro is volatile to say the least, he is argumentative with everyone, he also wants to hide the fact that Bennie is his brother. Tetro tells Bennie he can stay with them until the ship Bennie works on is fixed.
Bennie likes to get involved in everything, Miranda shows him around town, Tetro is in a cast and can't really go out on long trips, Tetro is given small jobs at a play house taking care of the house lights, it seems that Tetro is a sort of writer himself, in his mind he is a great writer, that was until a critic, Alone (Carmen Maura) panned his work. Bennie finds some of Tetro's work and turns it into a play, the story is about the life of their family, Tetro is not pleased when he finds Bennie working on the story. When Bennie stages his play Alone calls for it to be entered in a festival that she is holding, Bennie thinks this is a great thing and talks Tetro into doing it.
This movie is well crafted and is shot in black and white, there are a few scenes shot in color and seem to be of dramatic moments in the characters lives, this makes the movie more formidable that if it was reversed. The ending twist is a little bit eerie but it does make the movie more understandable, it does move at a slow pace but the plot requires this to work, Coppola has brought back his magic and I for one love that.
I give Tetro a 3 and on my avoidance scale a 0 This movie will not be for everyone, the pace and the fact it is in black and white will turn some people away and that will be their loss. i can't recommend this movie any more, GO see this wonderful film.
Tetro is not rated
Running time is 2 hrs. 07 mins.
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