Tetro (2009)

Francis Ford Coppola (say COPE-a-la) is probably best known for the game-changing Godfather series (1972, 74, 90) which won him 4 of his 5 Oscars, but he has written and directed much more (his other Oscar win was for Patton (1970), he was nominated for The Conversation (1973), Apocalypse Now (1979), and for producing American Graffiti (1973) with his pal George Lucas). One from the Heart (1982) was important to me, as I moved to LA that year to try to get into the movie business. I loved The Cotton Club (1986) and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), and enjoyed the cast and crew screenings of The Outsiders, Rumble Fish (both 1983), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). It was around then in the mid 80s that Judy and Helene took me to Coppola's September Harvest party in Northern California, which happened to coincide with one of those big orange full moons. A celestial evening by all accounts.

Tetro was an important project to Coppola, and it is beautifully shot in (mostly) black and white, with evocative mood music. Newcomer Alden Ehrenreich, who from certain angles looks a lot like Leonardo diCaprio and was "discovered" by Steven Spielberg at a bar mitzvah, stars as Bennie, 18, who arrives in Buenos Aires to find his estranged older brother Tetro (Vincent Gallo). I have seen both of the features that Gallo wrote and directed, Buffalo 66 (1998) and The Brown Bunny (2003) (the latter achieved some notoriety, about which you can read in this link, but beware of spoilers to that movie). In both, I found his characters narcissistic, mercurial, and generally detestable. The character of Tetro was no different. Perhaps he touched a nerve. Young Ehrenreich was good, and Spanish actress Maribel Verdú was wonderful, with her dazzling smile. You might have seen her as the sexy older woman in Y tu mamá también (2001) or in the nastily violent (both physical and mental) Pan's Labyrinth (2006). With Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa (1985)) as Bennie and Tetro's father and uncle. Tetro is pretty serious, with few laughs (except for some of the outlandish costumes), but all in all, definitely worth seeing, especially if you can be more objective than I. And here's some interesting trivia, with no spoilers.