TANGO ARGENTINO
A film review by Max Hoffmann
Copyright 1993 Max Hoffmann
Rating: 10.0 (A, ****) a "must see"
IN A NUTSHELL: Not to be confused with the B'way show of the late 80's, this wise and winning film has the off-beat humor of BREAD AND CHOCOLATE and the heart-wrenching personal involvement of NIGHT OF SHOOTING STARS, but resembles neither of them in style or content. It brilliantly portrays the miracle of rebirth that can happen when the elderly and young are thrown together, and left to their own devices to create a real "family."
Date Released: not yet (no distributor) Country of Origin: Yugoslavia/Serbia Running Length: 1:33 Rating: none. Network TV-levels of sexual situations.
Cast: Nikola Zarkovic, Miki Manojlovic, Ina Gogalova, Mija Aleksic Director/Producer: Goran Paskaljevic Screenplay: Gordan Mihic Camera: Milan Spasic Editor: Olga Skrigin, Olga Obradov
About every ten years, usually on a rainy Sunday afternoon, you stumble upon some unheard of foreign film, that so touches your mind and soul, you feel as if you're on a mission to get *everyone* you know to see this. I'm doubly burdened with such a mission by TANGO ARGENTINO, as there is no distributor. (North American premiere, Sun May 2, 1993 @ San Francisco Film Festival.)
Set in that brief golden bubble of time, between the fall of Communism in Yugoslavia, and the outbreak of the current bloody Civil War the movie was made almost entirely in Belgrade (now in Serbia). the film beautifully portrays the breakdown of one family, and the wondrous creation of a new one. Director Goran Paskaljevic chose 12-year Nikola Sarkovic from over 800 boys. Their teamwork has brought one of the year's most compelling performances to the screen. The film was completed in Aug 92, only days before the escalation of the bloody civil war in Serbia that now makes local creation of *any* films impossible. This is one film (should distribution occur) that you simply can not afford to miss viewing.
Nikola plays a gritty young capitalist-wanna be. He has far more sense and maturity with money than either of his parents, (his self-obsessed mother, Ina Gogalova, or philandering father, Miki Manojlovic). While his father dreams unrealistically of building a home based on income from being a wedding musician, Nikola dreams of getting a pop corn machine at the race track, so his family can make "real" money. The boy has gradually assumed many of his parent's adult responsibilities. He helps relieve his mother, by caring for her elderly charges, and even surreptitiously prompts his father with the right things to say to overcome serious marital rifts based on the father's philandering.
After his father gets a promotion in a music academy, with strings attached, Nikola steps in to center stage to hold things together. He must care for the three elderly charges his mother runs errands for (she's in Bulgaria seeking a cure for the ailing sister) *and* he must take on two new charges, relatives of his father's boss. Nikola has already grown close to Senor Julio Popovitch (brilliantly portrayed by former Yugo mega pop singer, Mija Aleksic.) Nikola finds a deep friendship with the spunky old Tango singer who refuses to "give in," even though he's virtually bed-ridden. In the director's talk after the screening, Paskaljevic revealed that the ailing Aleksic hadn't been able to work for 7 years. He was only allowed to work for two to three hours a day, with his doctor in attendance. With Life imitating Art, this wonderful performer grew stronger and stronger as the film progressed, and his doctor's new "prescription" is for Aleksic to make more films!
With the company of a dog he's inherited from a recently deceased "client," the pragmatic Nikola decides to simultaneously baby sit all of his elderly charges by bringing them together in a friendship club. Therein the magic of this film begins. Like nearly dry flowers in a spring rain, these wonderful old people "bloom" through friendship, romance, and a new-found sense of purpose. The gift of Goran Paskaljevic's direction prevents this from turning into sappy, sentimental sop like SMALL CHANGE. In a sense, each of Nikola's charges finds their own "tango," or dance of life. The film follows a path pitted with the very cul 'd sacs and dead ends that await any of us cursed with living long enough to become a "bother" to our adult children.
Much of the film's freshness comes from a deft script and Zarkovic's no-nonsense portrayal of the determined twelve-year-old. Far from being the lovable "artful dodger" type of moppet most of us were weaned on in countless Disney films, this is a pint-sized "adult" with a mission. He'll stop at nothing to build a stable financial base for his family. Like many work-a-holic adults, he's become so enmeshed in enabling others, that he's forgotten how to follow his own bliss. Only briefly, near the end of the film, (when we see Nikola frolicking nude on a Montenegro beach under the loving, watchful eyes of his "tango" friend), do we see him act freely and fully as a child. While his "real" family crumbles around him, he unknowingly brings together a warm and nourishing "extended" family. This family will touch your heart and stay with you a very long, long time.
Warning: you may leave the theatre wet and achey, from body constrictions and weeping that follow the sea-like emotional swell of this film. But you *will* leave the theatre reaffirming that, even under the shadow of war or domestic violence, there are always a few rare souls who can and *will* find a way to build true "family values," with or without their blood relations. That knowing is the film's ultimate gift.
INFORMATION ON OBTAINING PRINT OR DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS: (please request this film at your local Rep. Film house.)
Capitol Films 15 Portland Place, London W1N3AA, England; FAX: 44-71-636-6691
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