Released in 2009 and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "Tetro" is drama about two American brothers in Buenos Aires, Argintina. The younger one, Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich), idolizes the older, Tetro (Vincent Gallo), and hasn't seen him in a dozen years because he mysteriously cut all ties with the family and moved to Argentina, where he lives with his girlfriend, Miranda (Maribel Verdú). Bennie discovers his brother's near-finished play and is obsessed with completing it without his permission, perhaps because he senses it holds the answers he seeks. Klaus Maria Brandauer plays the arrogant conductor father while cutie Sofía Gala is on hand as a young Argentinan girl that fancies Bennie. The movie is primarily in B&W, but with color flashbacks."Tetro" is an artful and somewhat hypnotic adult-oriented drama by the master filmmaker, the very opposite of conventional Hollywood blockbusters. Ehrenreich is reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio when he was young while Gallo is broodingly charismatic as the eponymous protagonist. Coppola has always had a good eye for female cast and "Tetro" delivers the goods with Verdú and Gala, although I wish the latter had more screen time. There's a revelation at the end that I failed to anticipate, but should have because everything in the story points to it.Francis said at the Cannes film festival that "nothing in (the movie) happened, but it's all true." In other words, the film's autobiographical in some ways. The challenge is to perceive the parallels. Two are obvious seeing as how Coppola's father was a famous conductor. The other is when South America's most honored critic asks Tetro if her opinion matters to him anymore and he honestly says it doesn't; sticking her nose in the air, she silently walks away. Like Tetro, Coppola no longer cares what critics think of his works. It's akin to Kurtz' disposition toward the pathetic brass in "Apocalypse Now." The critic's name in the film is fittingly "Alone," played by Carmen Maura. Then there's the fact that Francis has a brother he's been known to have a love/hate relationship with, not to mention how his nephew, Nicolas Cage, is a little reminiscent of the titular character. But none of this speculation really matters; all that matter is that "Tetro" is a creative, operatic, entertaining drama. But stay away if you need constant 'exciting' things going on, like explosions, absurd action scenes and the corresponding CGI (not that there's anything wrong with that, lol).The film runs 127 minutes and was shot in Buenos Aires & the Andes, Argentina with studio work done in Spain.GRADE: B

Francis Ford Coppola never really got it back after his incredibly successful run of films in the 70's. Ever since Apocalypse Now in 1979 he's released things that range from absolutely awful to pretty good. There has been nothing that can even compare to his earliest works of pure genius. But in every range of data there are outliers. Tetro is the outlier in this situation. You can't expect The Godfather going in, and if you don't then you are actually treated to a very good film. Vincent Gallo stars as Tetro and Alden Ehrenreich plays his brother, Bennie. Bennie is visiting his estranged brother in Buenos Aires in order to revamp their relationship. The film tells a story that is as brutal as it is touching, telling of all the hardships these two brothers must endure to find peace with each other and become brothers once again.What Coppola has done here is a very risky and fascinating move for a director of his stature. He's attempted to revert back to an independent art house style of filmmaking. Tetro is an incredibly artistic film that captures a surreal beauty in its glorious black and white cinematography. An arbitrarily unique style of lighting is used here to create a very dream like and imaginative atmosphere. Watching this film is mystifying in a way. It has a certain hypnotic power to it that has a very strong allure. Tetro's immaculate visual quality is something that draws you in whether you have an interest in the content of the story or not.However, chances are you will have some interest in the intriguing plot of this film. The story that develops between these two brothers is fascinating and compelling, and told in such a way that reality is blended with fantasy and we are never entirely sure of what is going on. There is deep subtext under the surface of Tetro, and this is something that is interesting to read past the already interesting surface story. The two leads give it their all when playing their compelling characters and, although we never develop a strong connection to them, we are still fascinated by the story they have to tell.Tetro is a beautiful film and Coppola has surely outdone himself after a run of such mediocre films. This is one I can say I truly enjoyed and felt deeply moved and fascinated by this immaculate film. It is a strange film that isn't put together perfectly, but the bizarre and chaotic patterns of the film make it work in a unique way. I definitely don't regret watching this film.

Not too deep but deep enough to move you in its analysis of traumatized minds. A young man arrives at his older brother's house in a faraway country. He hasn't seen his brother for many years because the latter had abandoned his family to become a writer in the sequence of some family traumas of which we become aware as the movie develops itself through a few flashbacks in colour (the rest of the movie is black and white). The re-approximation between the two brothers reveals itself very difficult, with ups and downs mainly because the elder brother, Tetro, behaves himself like rejecting his family which the younger one tries to overcome unsuccessfully. The story progresses around some writings scribbled by Tetro with a not so clear meaning which the youngest one gets hold of in secret in order to become aware of facts and situations that affected their family. But when Tetro knows this a big row breaks out between them and they severe relations totally till a later moment when after some vicissitudes the younger brother ends up by changing those writings into a theatre play which eventually wins a literary competition not without that this literary adaptation had first caused another conflict between the two brothers when Tetro knew what his brother had done. The plot ends up in an unexpected final when a surprising dramatic past situation is revealed to the younger brother in a scene of great dramatic impact. A good movie though not exceptionally good for some details would need more psychological depth and remain not so clear being presented somehow superficially from the psychological standpoint like for instance the past relationship between their father and a former Tetro's girlfriend when he still lived with his father and his younger brother wasn't yet born.

A young boy, Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich), a waiter on a cruise ship that is temporarily down for repairs in Buenos Aries, takes the opportunity to call on his older brother Tetro (Vincent Gallo) who has exiled himself in Argentina to escape some bad things in his past. Tetro wants nothing to do with his family, including Bennie; initially he even refuses to come out of his room to meet him. Through a complicated set of events, the estranged Tetro finally comes to the inevitable reconciliation with Bennie. In the process we get details about why Tetro has taken the path that he has.Tetro's girlfriend Miranda is played by Maribel Verdu in a consistently appealing performance. At times I thought that Ehrenreich may be destined to be the next great young actor, but at other times he seemed like a teenager just reading his lines. I do think we are going to see more of this attractive actor. In the spirit of full disclosure I have to admit that my comments on this movie are biased by a visceral dislike of Vince Gallo. Gallo plays Tetro as a most unlikeable character. Throughout the movie I puzzled as to why either Bennie or Miranda would hang around Tetro, given his fits of temper and general unpleasant behavior. Klaus Maria Brandauer, as Tetro's father in flashbacks, plays the role of an egocentric and manipulative symphony orchestra conductor to the hilt.The story becomes more absurd and implausible as the movie goes along. Are we to believe that Bennie takes the scrawls of Tetro, that have to be read backwards with a mirror, and turns them into a prize-winning play? Why does Tetro wait until he does to reveal his true relationship to Bennie? And in such a melodramatic manner? And what was with the all-powerful cultural critic named "Alone?" On the one hand we are told that Alone had impeded Tetro's career because of her criticisms, but on the other hand we are told that Tetro had never published. How does one criticize what has never existed?Filming the flashbacks in color (using what appears to be a faded red filter) is an interesting touch. Most of the flashbacks are operatic in nature, and some effects left me speculating about their relevance, like the one scene that starts out with dancers on a stage and then has an ocean lapping onto stage left. Nice effect, but what is the meaning of it? This could easily be staged as a play and the way the movie is filmed reminded me a lot of the filming of "A Streetcar Named Desire." And there are elements of imitating "8 1/2" as well, particularly the way that Alone and her entourage are filmed.As a lover of black and white, I found the excellent use of that medium in this movie a pure delight, but in the end I was less than enthusiastic about the film in general.