Review of Tetro (2009) by Byron B — 07 Sep 2009

Life imitates Art imitates Life imitates Art imitates Life... or something like that in this vaguely autobiographical work. Maybe I've got that backwards!

Coppola draws explicit inspiration from Powell's and Pressburger's The Tales of Hoffman. I think he also rips a shot (involving a puzzling ax) from his own Dementia 13 that he did for Roger Corman. Though he transplants his artistic family's Italian heritage to the Argentinian art scene, the movie still feels very European. With the use of black and white photography for the present plot developments mixed with fanciful dance scenes telling Tetro's story, the movie seemed inspired by Fellini too. And Bennie Tetrocini has a surprise connection with Luke Skywalker.

I thought the camera work was very artsy. Right up until the last 5 or 10 minutes I thought the story was well developed. It left me feeling unsatisfied in those last moments. The performances were strong across the board. Gallo plays a writer who has distanced himself from his family and taken on the nickname Tetro. He has some dark troubling memories that he attempts to therapeutically turn into a script, but he will not publish the work, so the demons of his family stay closed up inside him as the script stays closed up inside some suitcases. Ehrenreich (his face will likely remind you of a couple other actors) plays Bennie. Bennie comes to visit his brother Tetro, whom he wants to emulate, and to uncover the family history that caused Tetro to leave. It is Bennie who finds Tetro's coded script in a suitcase. Verdu was wonderfully strong and nurturing as Tetro's girlfriend (practically wife), Miranda. Miranda fills a motherly role to both men. Brandauer is properly intimidating and sympathetic (in a dual role) as the patriarch of the family, Carlo Tetrocini, and his brother, Alfie Tetrocini. Lastly I'd like to mention Maura plays the snooty and mysterious critic, Alone, well too.

The plot involves Bennie slowly learning about Tetro's life in the present and the past. On the surface, it's a coming of age adventure for Bennie. But there's more than that. When Bennie reads Tetro's script the movie shifts to flashbacks in color and often ballet sequences that illustrate the conflicts and loves of the Tetrocini family past. The story involves three major male relationships: the brothers, Alfie and Carlo; father and son, Carlo and Tetro; and the "brothers," Tetro and Bennie. The movie is really about how the relationships parallel in interesting ways. In each relationship, one man has stolen something from the other. In the most developed and troubled relationship between Tetro and his father, both men steal things of extreme value from each other. It is all very intriguing to uncover this family mystery and see if history will repeat itself yet again. I expected something more explosive to happen at the end, but it surprisingly never materialized, so the movie felt a little unfulfilled. Still there were many excellent things about it.