Gently and politely dismissed by many reviewers in Cannes (not enough prostitute dismemberment, Nazi ball-bat bashing, or genital mutilation), Coppola’s Tetro is enjoying better reception stateside.
Andrew O’Hehir, Salon:
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, and when it went gleefully over the top into something like meta-melodrama in its final half hour, I enjoyed it even more.
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times:
Life meets art meets family meets film in “Tetro,” sometimes powerfully, sometimes obscurely. Filled with incidents (a well-timed broken leg, a production of “Faust”) and diversions (a powerful critic named Alone played with an inscrutable smile by Carmen Maura) and a few glorious peeks at the soaring Patagonian mountains, the movie finds Mr. Coppola stretching beyond the mainstream conventions that have alternately liberated and constrained him for more than four decades of filmmaking.
Even the less enthusiastic reviews respect Tetro for its individuality. Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News:
Despite the overwrought plot and unabashed pretension, there’s something admirable about the fact that Coppola clearly made this movie for himself.
But most critics are happy to see Coppola still stretching his artistic ambitions:
Scott Tobias, The Onion (A.V. Club):
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.
I’m sticking with early instincts for the possibility of a Best Cinematography nomination, and open to suggestions for supporting acting categories.