Just as in Rumble Fish and his first two Godfather films, in Tetro Francis Ford Coppola has made a story about the passionate relationship between brothers. Bennie (17) shuffles into the life of his elder brother Tetro, who has fled his home country and enjoys a life of cafes, drink and sex as an afflicted artist in the arty La Boca district of Buenos Aires. Coppola’s opulent black-and-white cinematography, with an occasional colourful flashback, illustrates the shadow that father throws over Tetro’s life. Tetro isCoppola’s first film based on his own screenplay since The Conversation (1974). The film drifts on moods and atmospheres, more than on a plot. Family relationships, art and their oppressive and liberating powers are the underlying themes of the film in which Coppola seems to take a new direction.
