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Review - Tetro
Revered film maker Francis Ford Coppola indulges his caprices by going against type with an intellectually challenging artistic movie, and by casting Vincent Gallo as Tetro. Gallo infuriated the 2003 Cannes Film Festival with the screening of 'The Brown Bunny', which was described as the worst film in the history of the festival. Although he subsequently edited the movie and earned himself some forgiveness from critics, his career looked like it might be in terminal decline afterwards, such was the strength of the reaction. Gallo may suffer from an occasional lack of judgement but he is an extremely talented actor, as is testified by his performance as Billy Brown in the sublime black comedy 'Buffalo '66. Both Billy Brown and Tetro are tormented people, psychologically damaged and demanding, but Gallo is at his best exploring the quirky nature of this type of character and the relationships they engender.
Tetro is a reclusive writer living in the bohemian quarter of Buenos Aires with the sympathetic Maribel Verdu (Mercedes in 'Pan's Labyrinth'). His motivation for cutting himself off from his family is a desire to escape the influence of his father Carlos Tetracini (Klaus Maria Brandauer), a famous conductor. But in doing so he leaves younger brother Benni behind.
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The story begins when Benni (Alden Ehrenreich, and winner of a Leo de Caprio look-a-like contest) trackes Tetro down and attempts to re-build the fraternal relationship. If he cannot, then he will try to make Tetro understand the pain he caused Benni when he left without any warning.
Filmed
in black and white, with splashes of colour (a trick Coppola also used
in 'Rumble Fish'), this movie is a homage to Fellini's 8.5. Benni's
appearence forces Tetro to eschew his reclusive lifestyle and he shows
Benni some of the sites of Buenos Aires, which provides a nice contrast
to the claustrophobia of Tetro's flat.
Tetro makes it clear to Benni that his visit
can only be a fleeting
one, and when Benni realises he will be unable to re-create the
relationship they had when he was younger, his own writing ambitions
take over and the brotherhood becomes a rivalry, under the tenureship
of legendary Argentinian auteur 'Alone' (Carmen Maura). We have a tense
finish at an awards ceremony when the brothers are forced to confront
the truth about themselves. I imagine that Coppola will look upon
this film as a personal favourite, and Gallo will be re-invigorated by
it. It should be this way because this is a brave
piece of artistic film making. It is not without its faults - a better
script for one, and an additional plot line would have been welcome,
but Coppola set out to make the movie this way, down to the bare bones
yet beautifully rendered, and he succeeded. It will polarise audience
opinion, especially if you use Coppola's back catalogue as expectation.
Rating : 8/10 Capricious
Review written by John Franklin : September 2010
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