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Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro Will Be in Black and White

by Alex Billington
April 16, 2009

While perusing the news on Variety, I came across an article looking at the prospective line-up at the Cannes Film Festival this year, which I will be attending. In the article, author Todd McCarthy lists all of the big American and foreign directors that will most likely be showing up at the festival in France with their films. One of them is Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, who is back again this year with a new film called Tetro. The last time we heard anything about this project was way back in 2007, when it was first announced. The most interesting update is that Tetro is actually going to be in black and white.

You see, I have a wonderful love for gorgeous modern day black and white films - like Medicine for Melancholy, In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Soderbergh's The Good German, Besson's Angel-A, Jarmusch's Dead Man, Burton's Ed Wood, Smith's Clerks, Aronofsky's Pi, just to name a few. And knowing that Tetro is actually in black and white is fairly exciting news for me. The quote comes from the later half of the article and is mentioned in relation to another film at the fest. "Haneke's German entry, The White Ribbon, examines incipient fascism at a rural school in 1913; like Coppola's film, it was shot in black-and-white."

The White Ribbon is the latest from German director Michael Haneke, of the original Funny Games as well as Hidden and The Piano Player. As far as I know, this is the first time we've heard that Tetro will be in black and white. Described by Coppola as "small, indie and personal," Tetro stars Vincent Gallo and is about the rivalries of an artistic Italian immigrant family. Coppola has said that the story is reminiscent of his own life and roots in New York City. Unfortunately his return to directing in 2007, Youth Without Youth, was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office. Let's hope it's not the same fate for Tetro.

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