Tetro Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro (16 screens) has been lurking on a few arthouse screens all summer, pulling in less than half a million dollars to date, and earning mostly lukewarm reviews from the handful of critics that bothered to see it. Rotten Tomatoes has 55 reviews on file for it, as compared to the 267 reviews for Star Trek (307 screens). In any Hollywood book, that's pretty much a dud, not even worthy of a moment's cocktail conversation. But in my book, it's a triumph of creativity over career. Coppola is 70 as I write this, and no longer the young stallion that won an Oscar in 1970 (for his Patton screenplay) and went on to create the biggest blockbuster of its time -- and one of the greatest films ever made at a major studio -- The Godfather (1972).

Francis Ford Coppola may never again craft a classic like The Godfather, but after years spent toiling on bland studio fare – as well as 2007's ambitious, muddled Youth Without Youth – the director regains his mojo with Tetro, a saga of familial strife and Oedipal conflict equally indebted to '60s euro cinema and the theatrical traditions of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. An independently financed gem, Coppola's first self-penned film since 1974's The Conversation is shot in lustrous black and white and marked by an old-school formal proficiency that's highlighted by an endlessly intriguing and expressive frame. It's also rife with echoes of the past, in terms of its cinematic forbearers – including The Godfather, and its focus on the shadow cast by titanic father figures on sons – as well as its narrative proper, which concerns the reunion in Buenos Aires of 18-year-old Bennie (newcomer Alden Ehrenreich) and his older brother Tetro (Vincent Gallo), the latter of whom up and left home years prior on a writing sabbatical and was never heard from again. As is slowly revealed, his departure was spurred by both men's father Carlo (Klaus Maria Brandauer), a world-renowned symphony conductor whom Tetro disdainfully refers to as "The Great Man" and whose stature, and accompanying egomaniacal behavior, caused an unspecified rift that hasn't yet healed.

The second day of the Cannes Film Festival showcased the programmers' commitment to auteurs. Instead of helium balloons in celebration of the family-friendly, animated Up, one of the key screenings was for a very adult drama about an inflatable Air Doll.

Key Screenings: Francis Coppola's Tetro bowed with a red carpet premiere tonight to open the Directors' Fortnight section, while the Un Certain Regard section opened with Bahman Ghabadi's No One Knows About Persian Cats and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll. Screening in the main competition were Lou Ye's Spring Fever and Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank. Park chan-wook's Thirst screened for the press. [Thanks very much to B-Side's "festival genius" unofficial guide to Cannes, which makes it easy to get a quick sense of what's playing each day.]

Films Sold. Three deals were announced for non-Cannes titles today, and indieWIRE has the details: Jack the Ripper-themed The Red Riding Trilogy (IFC Films), Aleksandr Sokurov's The Sun (Lorber HT Digital), and Jeff Stilson's doc Good Hair, featuring Chris Rock (Roadside Attractions and Liddell Entertainment).

Blog Talk. Peter Kneght provides a good roundup at indieWIRE. Frankly, though, David Hudson at IFC's The Daily provides the best, most comprehensive overview of the fest and the individual films (e.g. Tetro). I've cherry picked of couple of quotes that David found, and added a few others from Day Two.

"Officially, it was the third film I watched here at Cannes, and besides Pixar's Up, it's the best live-action film I've seen so far." -- Alex Billington of First Showing, deeming Park Chan-wook's Thirst the "best" ... of two live-action movies he's seen so far. There's a poster pull-quote for ya!

After the jump: Even more choice review quotes!

District 9
Peter Jackson produced this film about extraterrestrials being held on Earth in slum-like conditions while some evil corporation tries to figure out how the technology of their space craft works. Cool idea, even if it does seem a bit like Alien Nation, and that shot where you first see the alien craft is pretty sweet. Please note that the version William Goss posted the other day does not blur the alien's face and provides subtitles to translate what he is saying. The film opens on August 14.

Tetro
Francis Ford Coppola's latest film is about a young man who travels to Buenos Aires to find his brother, a tortured geniius and playwright who cut himself off from the rest of a family a decade earlier. The black and white cinematography looks gorgeous and this looks like one worth seeking out. Sadly, as this will only be getting a limited released on June 11, most of us will probably have to wait for the DVD.

Humpday
This indie comedy takes the whole bromance thing further than most films. Two old college friends reunite after ten years, one thing leads to another, and they decide to take part in an amateur porn contest as two straight men having sex with each other. Erik gave the film a pretty strong recommendation and it opens on July 10.

It was inevitable -- as soon as Francis Ford Coppola rethought a trip to Cannes for Tetro, you knew that a trailer would undoubtedly appear. But how would a brief look into Coppola's first original story since The Conversation, and next indie step after Youth Without Youth, turn out?

Stunning, dark, and just a little bit confusing, if the trailer is any indication. I'd say it's a welcome strangeness and indicative of an interesting cinematic ride, but Movieline isn't so sure: "You can see the danger here amid the flashes of beauty and passion, reminding viewers all too well of the never-ending hangover of perfection." Indeed, it's not your usual trailer, mixing distinct artistic images and a few splashes of color in the story of familial struggle.

Vincent Gallo's Tetro is much like any other Gallo, but it also seems like he was made for Coppola's black and white eye --ripped out of Buffalo and finally finding a home in a timeless, color-free Buenos Aires. But check out the trailer and weigh in below: Has the Tetro trailer piqued your interest?

You may have heard that Francis Ford Coppola had said no to screening Tetro out of competition and had decided to keep his latest film out of Cannes. Well, all that's changed now. Variety reports that Olivier Pere countered Coppola's refusal with a new offer, one that proved too irresistible. Now the Vincent Gallo film will open the 41st edition of Directors' Fortnight, which also boasts I Love You Phillip Morris amongst a number of international selections. For the unlucky Cannes-free people: Coppola will be distributing the film through his American Zoetrope, but no release date has been announced.

Meanwhile, the cast of The Company Men, the drama that has Ben Affleck getting sacked, keeps growing. First Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones signed on, and now Variety reports that Craig T. Nelson and Maria Bello are joining the film, which is currently kicking off in Boston. Company focuses on a man who suffers from a lay-off due to corporate downsizing, and has to work at his brother-in-law's (Costner) construction site to make ends meet. Bello will play the Vice President of human resources who cans Affleck, while Coach plays the global conglomerate's CEO. Get ready to see a lot more of Mr. T. Nelson. You might have noticed that he's also in The Proposal, and, he's rumored to be part of that Parenthood TV project.

When you look at Javier Bardem, do you think: "Gee, he'd look great in a dress!" or, "Gee, he'd make a good woman?" No? Well then, you're right in line with Francis Ford Coppola. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's made a big change in his upcoming film, Tetro, giving what he calls a "sex change" to the character Bardem was set to play. So, Bardem is out and fellow Spaniard Carmen Maura (Volver) is in.

During rehearsals for the shoot, Coppola realized that things needed to be changed: "One of the important roles in the script is a mentor and teacher to Tetro (Vincent Gallo), and I originally wrote it for a man. As I read and reread (the script), I felt that the interaction between the two characters would be far more intriguing if they were of the opposite sex." However, other sources have told THR that Bardem "became unavailable." This could be true, as the actor wasn't available for the rehearsals in Buenos Aires. But if it is, why not say as much?

Whatever the case, you can be sure that Maura will give a very different performance than Bardem would have -- just like Gallo will definitely bring something very different to the table than Matt Dillon. The film follows Tetro, a man living in Buenos Aires and being mentored by Maura's literary critic, when his estranged younger brother (Alden Ehrenreich) comes to find him. Production began on March 31.

Things don't seem to be going smoothly for Matt Dillon. For the second time this year, his lead role is going to someone else. First it was Cadillac Records. Now it's Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Vincent Gallo has signed on to star in Coppola's next directorial gig, with no reference to the previously-attached Dillon.

Gallo, meanwhile, signs on for the project after throwing a big stink about his previous gig, Giallo. Back in February, he was less than pleased that Dario Argento had cast daughter Asia Argento, and wanted out: "I'd rather not be in a movie with her. I'm not a fan. I was a fan of her father's. I'm retiring." I guess Javier Bardem and newcomer Alden Ehrenreich can feel honored that Gallo is willing/interested in working with them!

With production beginning at the end of the month in Buenos Aires, the film focuses on two brothers, played by Gallo and Ehrenreich. They're "torn apart by rivalries and betrayal," older bro Gallo heads to Buenos Aires, and younger brother Alden goes there to find him. Bardem will play an Argentinian literary critic and Maribel Verdu is Tetro's love interest.

The ever-entertaining Francis Ford Coppola has sat down with the Guardian on the eve of the release of his latest film, Youth Without Youth. Here's the highlight reel: Coppola is forced to backpeddle over those recent comments he made about Nicholson, Pacino and De Niro being old and fat and rich, or something like that. "I said, well they're not the same guys they were when they were young and hungry. Now they are rich. Deservedly so. Thank God, you know. Then it gets all twisted. I mean, I'm a friendly guy, right?" Love that last part. He goes on to add "Jack is a huge talent, one of the greats. These are my friends. And that kind of stuff can hurt friendships."

On his next film, Tetro, Coppola seems to have confirmed to the paper that Javier Bardem will star, although it's written ambiguously enough that the Guardian may have just been printing what they erroneously believe to be fact. Coppola says "It's about fathers, sons and brothers, a bit Tennessee Williams, a bit Rocco and His Brothers." He then launches into a defensive posture, pointing out that no matter what he does people will be expecting a new Godfather landmark film and will be disappointed if he doesn't deliver that. "They hope it's going to be another Godfather. There is always that hope even in the face of the impossibility of that actually happening."

The Godfather and its import on Coppola's career is a theme of the interview, and at times the director even seems to shrug off the impact of the film or suggest that his career would have been more pure, like Godard's, if he had not been left to contend with helming one of the most successful pictures of all time. "I got sidetracked," he says. "I would have made more personal films. Films of ideas. Like the guys who were making movies when I came of age -- Godard and the New Wave. Which is what I wanted to do in the first place." Sounds to me like Coppola needs to get out of the vineyards and get back to work and stop feeling so sorry for himself.

Imagine you went to a bat mitzvah and Steven Spielberg was there. Now, imagine he came up and talked to you. And then he got you an acting gig. An acting gig starring in a Francis Ford Coppola film. So, maybe that's not exactly how it went down for Alden Ehrenreich, but nonetheless he was apparently "discovered" by the Schindler's List director -- via a video shown at a bat mitzvah Spielberg attended -- and he is now cast in a major role in Coppola's Tetro, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ehrenreich joins the film's star, Matt Dillon, who has been attached from the beginning; the two actors will play brothers. Also added to the film is Spanish actress Maribel Verdú (Pan's Labyrinth; Y tu mamá también) as Dillon's character's girlfriend. Javier Bardem may also sign on, if his schedule allows, to play an Argentine literary critic named Unknown.

Originally the film was described as being about rival Italian immigrant families, which could still be the case, but now the main story is said to focus on the younger brother (Ehrenreich), who head to Buenos Aires in order to find his older brother (Dillon), who left the family many years before. Whatever the plot, though, Tetro is sure to be a good film with this cast. I will be disappointed if Coppola doesn't hire some of my local Argentine favorites (Ricardo Darín; Norma Aleandro; Mía Maestro; any of these deserve the exposure). One thing we probably don't have to worry about is whether or not young Ehrenreich will be any good. Spielberg has a good record with young performers, from Drew Barrymore to Joseph Mazzello to current favorite Shia LaBeouf, so we can trust this latest protege will deliver the goods. Tetro begins shooting in Argentina in February.