E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Tetro , by Francis Ford Coppola , his latest film, now out on DVD, is a sort of cinematic folly - a late-style work by an old man who can't possibly replicate his great early works: The Godfather, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now , three of the greatest American films.  Coppola has made other stylish masterworks, too: The Godfather II , Rumblefish , and Dracula .   Tetro , shot in Buenos Aires, has elements of all his major films, and is in fact a not-subtle commentary on the life of fame ("don't look into the lights") and the absurdity of critical and commercial success.  Indeed, it's main Tragic core - how a family dominated by a cruel egomaniacal patriarch is sapped of life - clearly echoes The Godfather saga; but family issues - especially between brothers - have long been of interest to Coppola; as has been the absent, yet powerful father-figure who may be God (see "the Director" in The Conversation ). Most notably, Tetro's black and whit...