When Francis Ford Coppola set out to create Tetro he had two pages of notes that provided the initial ingredients for the meat of his first original screenplay in 30 years. Yet, from these slim pages Coppola culled deeply personal concepts that had gestated in his mind since early adulthood, material that had eaten away at him, to create a multi-dimensional contemporary classic, a work of art on film.
Tetro is a story of men — of brothers, of sons, of fathers, and the women who love them, who protect them, and who break their hearts. The attention to detail and complicity of characters account for the lushness of Tetro, which opens in theaters this week. Long an admirer of TS Eliot, here is Coppola’s apt cast stage front, alliterating the moving cinematic canvas with resonant themes enhanced by a few new tricks of sound, space and visualization under the skillful hand of editor Walter Murch.
Against a shadowy black and white backdrop, Tetro is set primarily in La Boca, the vibrant artist quarters in Buenos Aires, where the streets are lively and theater beckons culture seekers. It is here that 17-year old Italian-American Bennie Tetrocini (Alden Ehrenreich), a cruise ship worker, has taken leave from the ship with the expressed purpose of seeking out his long lost brother Angie (Vincent Gallo). Angie’s partner Miranda (Maribel Verdu) and former psychiatrist is a matriarchal figure who makes Bennie feel welcome in contrast to his brother’s cold, distant, and offsetting reception. Angie declares he is now a Tetro, and wants nothing to do with his family, but Bennie is persistent, and the back story of Tetro is set in motion.
Tetro is a failed writer who has abandoned his work and former identity for the simple life in the theater’s lighting department. Ultimately, Bennie’s stubborn quest to understand his brother’s mysterious disappearance prompts Tetro to address his demons — revolving around the tragic death of his mother and his power struggles with their father acclaimed conductor Carlo Tetrocini (Klaus Brandauer). Bit by bit in elegant choreographed sequences the abstract, metaphors come together to shape a resonant storyline, wrought with the struggles of loss. The Spanish and Argentinean cast add a delicious cultural twist to the brothers’ struggles with fanciful characters embodied by the prominent theater critic Alone (Carmen Maura), disguised in dramatic sunglasses, even in the dark of night.
Where Coppola does his audience right is in beautiful imagery and in the film’s meaningful resolution. Bennie’s exploration of the past allows him to come to terms with his own identity, as Tetro makes peace with his choices and their shared passion. Storytelling through the lens of the theater becomes the catalyst for change in a dazzling grand finale, that rings with poetic, honest candor, particularly coming from the great Mr. Coppola’s perspective.
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