Tetro is huge in its ambition, frequently operatic in its style and, on balance, impressive in its achievement.
Tetro (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:69
Fresh:47
Rotten:22
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: A complex meditation on family dynamics, Tetro's arresting visuals and emotional core compensate for its uneven narrative.
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Almost four decades after he wrote THE CONVERSATION, Francis Ford Coppola returns to original screenwriting with this personal drama about an Argentine-Italian family. TETRO stars Vincent Gallo and... Almost four decades after he wrote THE CONVERSATION, Francis Ford Coppola returns to original screenwriting with this personal drama about an Argentine-Italian family. TETRO stars Vincent Gallo and features editing from the legendary Walter Murch. [More]
Starring: Vincent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich, Maribel Verdú, Klaus Maria Brandauer
Starring: Vincent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich, Maribel Verdú, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Carmen Maura
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenwriter: Francis Ford Coppola
Producer: Francis Ford Coppola
Composer: Osvaldo Golijov
Studio: American Zoetrope
Reviews for Tetro
Coppola’s self-involved family drama Tetro feels like an attempt by the filmmaker to recapture his youthful for appetite for moviemaking and art. Which makes Tetro sound a lot better than it is.
Forcefully acted and sumptuously shot in gleaming black and white, it is an artistic picture that occasionally – nay, frequently – strains too hard for credibility, as Coppola’s script shoots for nothing less than tragedy.
It's not a catastrophe, but neither is it a classic, and a big problem is Coppola's self-penned script, an Oedipal drama that may as well be subtitled An Oedipal Drama, because subtlety is not its strongest suit.
The film's visual beauty is not enough to compensate for its somewhat static feel, though, or the unbelievability of several of the characters.
[Builds] towards a cathartic third-act sequence (set among the glaciers of Patagonia) which does, finally, possess a sort of weird power. But it’s a long stretch to get there.
Mostly dull stuff but has its moments when it sparkles, as it muses over the Oedipal Complex like a madman throwing his clothes out the window.
Tetro is a delirious surprise -- an experimental film from Francis Ford Coppola that has the sizzle and vim of his great narrative work.
What threatens to be a mere exercise in style proves to be as involving as it is inventive.
Francis Ford Coppola has never been the most subtle or unpretentious of filmmakers. But if anything, he's gotten even more self-indulgent and stuffy ever since he set his sights and cameras on Europe and South America.
The performances, particularly from relative newcomer Alden Ehrenreich, will keep you engaged.
While Coppola seems revitalized by quoting from movies he studied at UCLA film school, what ultimately makes Tetro so compelling is the filmmaker's return to the motifs that made his 1970s films powerful.
What makes it eminently watchable is the craft. Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. films in luscious widescreen monochrome that looks almost wet. Osvaldo Golijov's score is another pleasure.
'Tetro' is absorbing, daring and proof that, even now, Coppola's famous reach does not exceed his creative grasp.
Old-fashioned melodramatic claptrap, served up in ridiculously overblown style...another deeply embarrassing misfire from a man once considered a major American filmmaker.
Coppola has made something personal and intimate that, while not brilliant, sticks to the grand, operatic themes that made him famous.
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