Tetro

5.0

0.0 (0)

A week for the classic directors, Francis Ford Coppola's latest work is a sublime piece of cinema that has everything for everyone and deserves not to be missed.

Tetro is Coppola's first writer/director credit since The Conversation (1974), which is one of my all time favorite films. And, let me say, I'm not really the type to follow a director's work. In fact, I don't really care too much for anything Coppola did afterwards (including The Godfather Trilogy, maybe with the exception of the madness Apocolypse Now), but Tetro is different.  This is a film, as a standalone project, that perhaps comes along once a year, with an entirely original story, perfect cast and wonderfully shot.

Tetro is a story about family, the rivalries that often occur within families, with a central and resolving theme of this film being that of ultimate generational redemption.  Gallo's character Tetro, a dark and brooding anti-hero, is the perfect antidote to the youthful, and naive, optimism of Alden Ehrenreich's Bennie. The dynamics between the two leading men become a highlight of the narrative. The story, set in Argentina (primarily Boca in Buenos Aires), evolves around the development of the characters confronting their past to determine their future.

The film, shot in black and white, uses lighting and camera-effects to great and profound effect, enhancing the story significantly. Supplemented by vivid color dream sequences is a perfect counterbalance to the otherwise dark nature of the film.

Gallo is superb as the leading man Tetro, with Bennie played, almost precociously, by Ehrenreich. The supporting cast, led by Maribel Verdú is perfectly cast to enhance, and ultimately resolve, the story of family, rivalry and deception.

A film to be savored and not rushed (ed. long), Tetro heralds one of the most complete pieces of cinema that this reviewer has seen in some time and certainly offers respite from the relentless 3-D world we are being trapped into in cinemas across the region.

WATCH IT FOR

Coppola's brilliant compositions. The black and white, almost film noir style allows lighting effects to

MISS IT FOR

Nothing. This is cinema in the modern age at one of its finest moments. It will pass largely under the radar, if you can watch at a cinema, do. Otherwise, get that DVD.

Watch the trailer

Editor review

Leave a comment