Tetro

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Tetro

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Tetro

Vincent Gallo, Maribel Verdu, Alden Ehrenreich, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Carmen Maura

Bennie travels to Buenos Aires to find his long-missing older brother, a once-promising writer who is now a remnant of his former self. Bennie's discovery of his brother's near-finished play might hol...( read more  read more... )d the answer to understanding their shared past and renewing their bond.

Id: 11022589

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Tetro Recent Reviews
  • hypathio7
    September 8, 2009
    hypathio7
    Life imitates Art imitates Life imitates Art imitates Life... or something like that in this vaguely autobiographical work. Maybe I've got that backwards!

    Coppola draws explicit inspiration from Powell's and Pressburger's The Tales of Hoffman. I think he also rips a shot (invo...( read more)lving a puzzling ax) from his own Dementia 13 that he did for Roger Corman. Though he transplants his artistic family's Italian heritage to the Argentinian art scene, the movie still feels very European. With the use of black and white photography for the present plot developments mixed with fanciful dance scenes telling Tetro's story, the movie seemed inspired by Fellini too. And Bennie Tetrocini has a surprise connection with Luke Skywalker.

    I thought the camera work was very artsy. Right up until the last 5 or 10 minutes I thought the story was well developed. It left me feeling unsatisfied in those last moments. The performances were strong across the board. Gallo plays a writer who has distanced himself from his family and taken on the nickname Tetro. He has some dark troubling memories that he attempts to therapeutically turn into a script, but he will not publish the work, so the demons of his family stay closed up inside him as the script stays closed up inside some suitcases. Ehrenreich (his face will likely remind you of a couple other actors) plays Bennie. Bennie comes to visit his brother Tetro, whom he wants to emulate, and to uncover the family history that caused Tetro to leave. It is Bennie who finds Tetro's coded script in a suitcase. Verdu was wonderfully strong and nurturing as Tetro's girlfriend (practically wife), Miranda. Miranda fills a motherly role to both men. Brandauer is properly intimidating and sympathetic (in a dual role) as the patriarch of the family, Carlo Tetrocini, and his brother, Alfie Tetrocini. Lastly I'd like to mention Maura plays the snooty and mysterious critic, Alone, well too.

    The plot involves Bennie slowly learning about Tetro's life in the present and the past. On the surface, it's a coming of age adventure for Bennie. But there's more than that. When Bennie reads Tetro's script the movie shifts to flashbacks in color and often ballet sequences that illustrate the conflicts and loves of the Tetrocini family past. The story involves three major male relationships: the brothers, Alfie and Carlo; father and son, Carlo and Tetro; and the "brothers," Tetro and Bennie. The movie is really about how the relationships parallel in interesting ways. In each relationship, one man has stolen something from the other. In the most developed and troubled relationship between Tetro and his father, both men steal things of extreme value from each other. It is all very intriguing to uncover this family mystery and see if history will repeat itself yet again. I expected something more explosive to happen at the end, but it surprisingly never materialized, so the movie felt a little unfulfilled. Still there were many excellent things about it.
  • her69eyes
    July 19, 2009
    her69eyes
    Francis Ford Coppola cemented himself long ago as one of the most influential of all modern directors. He's stumbled a bit since "The Godfather" trilogy and "Apocalypse Now", releasing works like "Jack" in 1996, but he now returns to the screen with a film written by himself. It'...( read more)s a deeply personal story, filled with guilt complexes and family feuds (despite him claiming that "nothing in it happened, but it is all true"), and it's had a modest limited release due to it's low budget. While it's not a great film, especially as it carries the baggage of expectations that is the Coppola legacy, it's still a remarkably fresh and exciting feature to see on screen. Does it all work? No. But when was the last time you saw "Faust" performed in drag in beautiful black-and-white cinematography? Had this been the work of a new director, he would have been praised as a visionary. As it is now, it stands as a vague and minor work from the prolific director. But, hey - we're far from "Jack" territory.

    After running off from military school, 18-year-old Bennie (Aiden Ehrenreich) finds himself working as a waiter on a cruise ship. When the career takes him to Argentina, he takes advantage of the opportunity to catch up with his brother, Tetro (Vincent Gallo). Tetro's an unpleasant fellow - after accidentally killing his mother in a car accident and running away from his father (Klaus Maria Brandauer), he's been reduced to a bitter shell of his former self. The only person in his life is Miranda (Maribel Verdu), his lovely and oddly supportive girlfriend whom he met as a patient of a mental hospital.

    The first half of the film is a bit of a familiar melodrama. Bennie searches through Tetro's things while he's out, and a friendship between Bennie and Miranda leaves Tetro suspicious. Bennie constantly presses for answers, and Tetro continues to resist. Then, however, following an accident - things move along in entirely new directions. Bennie creates a stageplay of Tetro's unfinished novel, and the response is so positive that it wins a spot in a prestigious arts festival. Tetro shows up during the awards ceremony and the family secrets are revealed in what has all the makings of an epic climax.

    Unfortunately, however, by that point i'd long since given up on the characters. Miranda, who was perhaps the most interesting character in the developing moments, is largely abandoned. Bennie and Tetro start acting in ways that seemed uncharacteristic of both, and their transformations happen so rapidly that it becomes ludicrous to buy. The last act is exhausting - not for the extraordinary release in dramatic tension, but because the film had long since run out of steam.

    Despite the emotional disconnect and implausibility of the narrative, however, it's undeniable that this is an absolute treat to see in a theater. The cinematography is gorgeous, and Coppola is able to pull off these fairly pretentious "color" sequences of opera (even, at one point, showing a whole sequence of "Tales of Hoffman") with an elegance that we play along with against our better judgement. It's a visual spectacle, an absolute feast for the eyes. But as gorgeous as it is, it's perhaps a bit too vague and convoluted to leave a lasting emotional impact.
  • g1pp4l
    November 12, 2009
    g1pp4l
    Ehmm... Francis, man, put your camera back in the closet.
  • joniboniaz
    July 24, 2009
    joniboniaz
    Enjoyed the old-style feell of this Francis Ford Coppola movie, set in modern day Argentina, where only the flashbacks are in color. Interesting story, well acted, a new Leonardo DiCaprio is born I think !
  • dipa89
    November 18, 2009
    dipa89

  • mayorcrunch
    October 14, 2009
    mayorcrunch
    Lo que mas destaca de "Tetro" es su espectacular cinematografia. Filmada en blanco y negro con camaras digitales de alta definicion, la cinta es un festin visual (aun cuando la historia, realmente, no sea tan buena).
    Uno puede notar el amor de Francis Ford Coppola por la opera ...( read more)ya que la naturaleza de la cinta es muy operatica y tragica al involucrar peleas familiares, oscuros secretos y pasiones ocultas.
    Las actuaciones tambien son buenas, en especial de Vincent Gallo como Tetro y aunque la cinta no nos involucra tanto como hubiesemos querido, "Tetro" representa una propuesta interesante de Coppola y mas que nada una soberbia muestra de las capacidades tecnicas del cine digital.
  • evgenialitus
    October 10, 2009
    evgenialitus
    Strong work. Excellent quality camera man. Some of the things as 2008 year appear on the poster or NY police car in Argentina, or hoodie style clothes in 40s` don't make big difference in experience. Noticing this just takes you out of pics, but next moment brings you right back.
  • phoebecaulfield
    October 4, 2009
    phoebecaulfield
    An absolutely stunning piece of work, full of cinematic beauty. The wonderful screenplay and exciting performances from every actor is what makes Tetro one of my all-time favorite films. Seeing this film has me really interested in seeing more work from Francis Ford Coppola, Vinc...( read more)ent Gallo and new comer Alden Ehrenreich. This is a film full of imagery and foreshadowing throughout, which alone makes the viewer need a second watch. Tetro is a beautiful film that deserves a lot of attention.
  • michaelcorleone
    October 3, 2009
    michaelcorleone
    This is a transcendent piece of art that verifies the status of a master storyteller. The exquisite marriage of sound and imagery is far from being its only achievement, despite the critical responses. Coppola has been exploring the dynamics and complexities of family relationshi...( read more)ps throughout the course of his career, and he may have brought perfect closure here. He is a brave artist who disregards the confines of commercial American moviemaking and infuses his masterpiece with something as original as it is exciting. Vincent Gallo is someone whose work I am fairly unfamiliar with, but he delivers an Oscar-worthy, enigmatic piece of acting here that blew me away. The rest of the players are ideally cast as well, with Maribel Verdú holding her own opposite Gallo. This is a haunting, heart-wrenching cinema experience that needs to be seen. It pains me that a mediocre work like Inglourious Basterds gets praised to death while a legend's return to form is ignored. See this film.
  • threefolddado
    September 9, 2009
    threefolddado
    Recommended by hypathio7.
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