From the opening credits of Tetro you know you're watching a film from a master of the craft.

Produced, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the film stars Vincent Gallo and Alden Ehrenreich (who has an eerie resemblance to a young River Phoenix) as two brothers. Ehrenreich's Bennie is coming of age, while Gallo's Tetro is simply coming to terms.

The themes here are much the same as with Coppola's Godfather films. Big families with traditions and names to live up to, and the secrets within those bonds.

But Tetro is much more intimate than the Godfather films, and focuses not on the sprawling family, but the broken connection between the brothers. Bennie, looking for answers to his questions about the family, and Tetro wanting nothing more than to escape.

The cinematography by Mihai Malaimare, who lensed Coppola's Youth Without Youth, is almost too polished, too perfect. The black and white scenes of the current time are slashed with ribbons of light, in contrast to the flashback sequences that are in technicolor.

Yet the polish is exactly what we expect from Coppola, and from the framing to the production design, this film is pitch perfect.

Tetro is at times overly sentimental and tends to melodrama. For a film that uses opera, classical music, and ballet as its inspirations, this can be forgiven.

But Tetro is at its best during the raw moments when Gallo is on the edge, and we catch a glimpse of Apocalypse Now.