Film Review – Tetro
The acting presented in the movie is great all around. Vincent Gallo plays Tetro with just the right tone: the darkness of his eyes, the shagginess of his hair, and the lines of his face all play a part of his character. One moment, he’ll smile and put his arm around you, the next explode with withheld tension, as we watch him we can literally see the weight of his past pushing down on his shoulders. Maribel Verdu plays Miranda, Tetro’s girlfriend, as perhaps the centerpiece of the story. She acts as the bridge that reconnects the two brothers; she is lovely and kind, yet strong and tough enough to keep Tetro from falling off the deep end. Above all though, the main surprise of the film is Alden Ehrenreich, playing Bennie.
This is the very first role of his young career, yet Ehrenreich plays his character with all the emotional ups and downs required of the part. He has the ability to play the youthful naiveté of Bennie early in the film, but as the secrets reveal themselves, he displays the hurt and torment in much the same way as Gallo. During the final scene of the film, as Bennie stands in the street watching the flickering lights hurdle past him, we are reminded of the very first shot of the movie, with Gallo doing the exact same thing in front of his lamp. In fact, in some scenes, Ehrenreich surprisingly stands toe to toe with Gallo, if not being the highlight of the scenes himself. It’s no surprise that Ehrenreich would be compared to a young Leonardo DiCaprio; he looks very much like him and has all promise that DiCaprio had in his early days. I look forward to seeing this young actor mature in to his career.
Tetro is a fantastically personal film that needs to be seen by more people. It harks back to movies made long ago, where success was measured by quality and artistry instead of costs and box office receipts. Francis Ford Coppola shows here that he still can, now in his 70s, make a movie with the same kind of youthful spirit of his past, but with the control and patience of a veteran filmmaker that knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s good to see Coppola back making good movies, and hopefully that’s where he will stay.
Final Grade: A