Tetro - Movie Review and Synopsis

Fresh faced and naive, 17-year-old Bennie arrives in Buenos Aires to search for his older brother who has been missing for more than a decade. The family had emigrated from Italy to Argentina, but with the great musical success of their father Carlo, an acclaimed symphony conductor, the family moved from Argentina to New York. When Bennie finds his brother, the volatile and melancholy poet Tetro, he is not at all what he expected. In the course of staying with Tetro and his girlfriend Miranda, the two brothers grapple with the haunting experiences of their shared past.

FFC distorts aspects of his biography and ships it to Argentina (with side trips to Spain) for his first original screenplay since The Conversation (which AMC, home of “Mad Men” is using as the source material for a new program). No offense to Vincent Gallo, but I wish the Fates did not conspire to push Matt Dillon out of the titular role; with the unending desire for all things 80’s nostalgia, it would have been retro (rhymes with “Tetro”) to see a Rumble Fish reunion.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Vincent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich, Maribel Verdú
Studio: American Zoetrope
Release Date: 26 June 2009 (Spain), 10 June 2009 (USA)
Genre: Drama