The Good
It is great to have this Coppola gem on DVD and packed with extras.
The Bad
The fact that this great film was all but ignored upon it’s release.Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) goes to Buenos Aires to search for his older brother Tetro cent Gallo) who has been missing for longer than a decade. When Bennie eventually finds his brother much of their shared past comes to the foreground, and these two brothers are both forced to deal with it. Aiding the brothers is Tetro’s girlfriend Miranda (Maribel Verdu) who does everything she can to bring them together, while also inserting herself into the situation.
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What unfolds is one the most beautifully shot character studies to hit American movie screens (from an American director) in recent years. Francis Ford Coppola shows that now that he is making movies on his terms, he not only still has a great deal to say, but he also has a wealth of life and filmmaking experience that imbues itself in every scene and frame of this film. This is one of those rare movies that has no effects in it (in the traditional sense of how we imagine effects being used), but yet could benefit from being watched via the Blu-ray experience.
So… see it in standard DVD, see it on Blu-ray, stream it… just make sure you see this wonderful film.
Features
Coppola and actor Alden Ehrenreich sit back and discuss the making of this movie. While I usually like it when Coppola does these things by himself, I was happy to see that Ehrenreich was on board to help flesh out the production tales being told. It was quite interesting to get to hear how this movie was made. I also liked hearing about the use of black and white and color, and what editor/guru Walter Murch brought to the table.
Featurettes
Video
Widescreen Presentation. Color and Black and White. This 127 minute movie looked amazing when I saw it in a theater and it looked pretty darn good in standard definition. The black and white colors look amazing and add a dimension to this movie that I don’t think would have been achieved otherwise. There was such a nice contrast in the colors and everything looked really sharp across this disc. I would love to see what this movie looks like on Blu-ray.
Audio
English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio. English and Spanish subtitles. When you read the credits and see that Walter Murch not only edited this movie, but served as the person doing the sound re-recording, that should make you realize just how much tender loving care the sound design has here. Coppola once talked about how he and George Lucas agreed that you could make a film seem bigger and grander for less money, simply by paying attention to how you put the audio together. It is great to see that these trailblazers still adhere to that.
Package
Vincent Gallo and Alden Ehrenreich are shown on this front cover in the startling black and white colors that pervade this film. The back features more black and white images, a well written description of Tetro, a Special Features listing, credits list and technical specs. I love that Lionsgate isn’t trying to trick users into thinking that this film is in color when it is most clearly a brilliant black and white creation.
Final Word
If we really are living in a world where a film like The Back Up Plan, Up in the Air or Iron Man 2 justifies more notice than a movie like Tetro, it is a very sad state of affairs.
