Tetro: bleak, drab & dull

... interestingly, the wordplay that Mr. Coppola evokes in the title of his latest film (original screenplay also provided by the director) and is meant to describe the personality of the main character, TETRO is an all too easy clue for what the film turns out to be: "tetro" meaning bleak, drab and dull in Italian, that's what Mr Coppola's latest opus can well be described as.

Maybe Mr Coppola tried too hard to be as hip and witty as his daughter (according to those who like her work, at least - and Marc, not the least...), or maybe (more likely) he wanted to catapult himself into some kind of alternativ-ish Almodovar-ish league. Uhm, ... no?


With "Tetro", Mr. Coppola somehow manages to make really good actors (Vincent Gallo and the elsewhere usually magnificent Carmen Maura) deliver a very poor, disappointing and wooden performance. The plot per se might have been turned into an aesthetically convincing film (rivalry among brothers, father takes away grandson from son &c.), and of course it is always a pleasure to delve into images delivered straight from Buenos Aires.

But even where Buenos Aires (the main setting) is concerned, Mr. Coppola conjures up a selection of unbearable clichés and dumb stereotypes of a "Latin" way of life - situated in the "typical" Buenos Aires neighbourhood that is supposed to be La Boca...

There is more to Buenos Aires than that, let me tell you. And more to movie-making than Mr. Coppola's latest achievement...