Tetro

Tetro the new film from Francis Ford Coppola and it looks as if it will be one of the cinematic events of the year, (perhaps a lo fi cinematic event in this era of 3D).

It has been argued that Coppola saved Hollywood and American filmaking in the 70s with the films The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and The Conversation, but his career effectively fell through and his work of more recent times has not been nearly as creative and compelling.

Tetro however appears to be a return to some kind of artistic form, although as mentioned, on a smaller scale.

The film is set in Argentina and centers around two brothers, Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) who travels to Buenos Aires to find is long lost older brother Tetro (Vincent Gallo). The plot revolves around a family feud, secrets and also the arts, especially music and ballet as the brothers father was a famous composer and is the center of the dramatic opus.

The first three minuets are on you tube and the title sequence echoes ideas from the opening of Apocalypse Now. Filmed in gorgeous high contrast black and white Vincent Gallo's intense eyes and check bones are doing all the acting for him as his face fades into a close up of moth flying in and around a light bulb, accompanied with great enhanced sound effects courtesy of Coppola’s long time collaborator in sound design and editing Watler Murch. Then follows a striking title sequence of the kind that the legendary Saul Bass constructed for Hitchcock and later Scorsese, until it reveals what looks like a young sailor (Ehrenreich) arriving off a bus at night to a Buenos Aires apartment building.

Tetro is released in June and reviews so far have been positive. Tetro seems to be coming across as maybe not be as ground breaking as Coppola's work in the 70s, but this certainly seems to be a film with his name all over it for the all the right reasons, so for that alone Tetro is definitely worth looking out for.