At age 70, director Francis Ford Coppola considers himself to be at the start of a new career as a filmmaker. Sure, he made the first two Godfather movies and Apocalypse Now in the ’70s, achievements that most directors would consider the bedrock of a career.
But for Coppola those films represent the past.
“I think Tetro is the second film of my second career following Youth Without Youth,” he said.
“What makes these films different is that, starting with Tetro, they will all be based on original screenplays.
“They’ll be self-financed, which changes them a lot. But most importantly, they’ll be of a personal nature, meaning that they’re movies I’ll make out of the love…”
In the decade away from directing following 1997’s The Rainmaker, Coppola started a wine label and a hotel chain, investments that have earned him enough money to finance his own movies.
With his newfound freedom, Coppola has created Tetro, a small but gorgeous film screening at the Vancouver International Film Festival about the tumultuous relationship between two long-separated brothers. The story is classical in nature, harking back to Greek tragedies and is filmed in beautiful black and white cinematography that has disappeared these days because it’s considered commercial death.
“In my case I didn’t make this film to make money anyways, so I just went ahead,” quips Coppola.
