Tetro

Francis Ford Coppola is not exactly a household name but practically everyone knows about The Godfather and hopefully a few have seen Rumblefish. Truth is Coppola hasn't directed big studio pictures in years and he prefers it that way. Tetro, like his previous film from last year Youth Without Youth, exists in a world of a small scale production mixed with huge visionary ideas. Tetro certainly succeeds as cinema although its true fans will be audiences versed in classic drama and enthralled at immaculate black-and-white composition.
Tetro thrusts its protagonists into uncomfortable family memories. The film belongs to debut actor Alden Ehrenreich as much as it does Coppola. Ehrenreich, who resembles a younger Leo DiCaprio era Gilbert Grape, comes to Argentina to find his older brother Tetro (Vincent Gallo working serious acting mojo to the brim) who abandoned him years before. Both brothers share a dysfunctional relationship with their father (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and different mothers. Tetro lives with his common law girlfriend Miranda (Maribel Verdú channelling intelligence) and tries to disassociate himself with past efforts at being a writer. When we see pages of his writing later in the movie it's like decoding cypher.
Tetro revels in its arthouse pedigree. The scenes are so carefully lit you feel the painterly aspect of the frame. Coppola knows he's not directing Apocalypse Now but we still get powerful imagery on par with anything in his closet. There are layers of human emotion that we spend the first part of the film building up and the last half of the film tearing apart. At times during the film I got a positive 50s/60s Italian cinema neo-realism vibe from Tetro.
Tetro has a slight advantage in the world of indie film. Even though it has very little promotion and is distributed by Coppola's own company American Zoetrope it has managed to snag a coveted spot at a local theater, on a single screen at the Landmark River Oaks. There's more than one cool indie film that's been nixed from Houston this year because the infrastructure will not support it, may I point to Downloading Nancy as just one example?
Tetro takes you to places you didn't know you wanted to go. Tetro is an important if not mandatory work from a great director.