Tetro
American Zoetrope | Release Date: June 11, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin Wilson
Shot mostly in black and white and imbued with a romanticism that's at once nostalgic and exhilarating, Tetro sneaks up on you. What threatens to be a mere exercise in style proves to be as involving as it is inventive. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
A delirious surprise . Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
As with "Youth Without Youth," this new movie feels like a transitional work but also an inspired one, the creation of a director who, having recently turned 70, has set off on a new adventure that requires more from his audiences than some might be willing to give. Which is itself a sign of vigorous artistic renewal. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Certainly it isn't the greatest of Coppola's pictures, or even of his independent productions, but those are pretty high standards. It has a verve and vitality that's been missing from his pictures for 25 years, and its various and visible flaws all result from too much of that verve rather than too little. I enjoyed it tremendously. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
It's the product of a great dreamer and aesthete, rather than an authentic emotional experience--a gorgeous, crystalline bauble that really catches the light. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Here is a film that, for all of its plot, depends on characters in service of their emotional turmoil. It feels good to see Coppola back in form. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A family melodrama with charm. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Unabashedly theatrical and richly cinematic, even when it's falling apart. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The movie is alive from beginning to end, and it's a pleasure to see at least one big-name director get out of the prison of his own reputation. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The result is visually inventive, narratively edgy, and unlike anything else. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Tetro is Coppola's best film since Apocalypse Now because the filmmaker has abandoned conventional drama – what for him had become a straightjacket – indulging in a collage style that allows him to honour favourite filmmakers. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
What a grand and dazzling route Coppola takes. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It has style to burn, eye-catching acting by an international cast and a story that harkens back to many literary classic with its themes of a family torn apart, brothers in conflict and a son's rivalry with a towering father figure. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
For writer-director Coppola, Tetro is a cri de coeur, one more from the heart. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Tetro turns out to be not one movie but, at the very least, two--a Fellini-esque (or Coppola-esque) concatenation of drama, dance and opera (with a nod to Alphonse Daudet), and a modest, appealing coming-of-age story that involves Maribel Verdú (from “Y Tu Mamá También”) as Tetro’s girlfriend. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Coppola's fondness for the operatic gets the better of him as the action approaches a climax, but the movie is girded by a sense of knotty family history. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Like Orson Welles, Francis Ford Coppola has gone from being the filmmaker of his time to becoming a make-it-up-as-you-go-along indie free-shooter. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The increasingly crude plotting and stock dialogue are killers. All the beauty the eye can hold can't, in this case, fool the ear and brain into falling for Coppola's strained tale. Read full review
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