FILM TITLE: TANGO DIRECTOR: CARLOS SAURA COUNTRY: SPAIN/ARGENTINA 1998 CINEMATOGRAPHY: VITTORIO STORARO MUSIC: LALO SCHIFRIN CAST: MiguelAngel Sola, Cecilia Narova, Mia Maestro, Julio Bocca (as himself), Juan Carlos Copes, Juan Luis Galiardo SUPER FEATURES: The Dancing, of course. And the cinematography, too.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Seen at the 22nd Portland International Film Festival, in Portland, Oregon)
TANGO should either be considered one of the best designed dancing films ever made, or simply an exercise in defining what the beauty of dancing can be like that most of us will never catch in any theater in our lives.
The inevitable comparison to this film, AND it is a distant one, is ALL THAT JAZZ, and only in the design and mix of the Tango and modern dance. The choreography is astounding, specially when devising the dramatic sequences that this film creates for our imagination. I am not sure that many of us can get this much WOW factor in the best show that we have ever seen. Add to that a cinematographer that is capable of using light so well, and we have a very beautifully made film, that even though it lags here and there, still it comes off as great, and magnificent.
There is a fine line when a film could be considered too artsy, to the point of getting close to being a bore, and this film finds a way to tamper that with fiery dancing sequences, that pretty much tell the story of the film, even suggesting such dramatic opinions of history like it was the Tango that helped people in Argentina come out of the depression in the early 30's. A dance that helped people define and appreciate their culture, if there is such a thing.
The difficult thing in this film, is having the patience to sit through it and make an attempt to find a story, which is rather lost in the film within a film thing, that comes clear in the end, but is only suggested early. However, in the early moments we only see the equipment, and not any interaction with it. In ALL THAT JAZZ, the Bob Fosse character is totally involved in his production to a level that is harmful to his health. In this film, like many before for Carlos Saura, once again, this is the theme, but Saura is not afraid to admit that it is his life that brings about the art. Mario, is devising the show he is putting together from his own life, despite the producers wanting a bit of a piece of fluff instead. Mario, is learning as he gets older, that it is the women that inspire the Tango, and it is his new found love that helps define the show. But he is by now well aware that many of these women will be gone in the next day, and his taking on a new dancer and lover is the defining moment for his production.
But if this intricacy of story is not enough, an old story rehashed again, one can at least take refuge in some of the freshest and best designed dancing done on film since the ALL THAT JAZZ film. Well, there is more. If the dancing is not enough, all cinematic styles of shooting are thrown out the window to create a dazzling array of images with lights, scrims, and camera movement, watching shadows of bodies dancing together. If this is not making love to a dance, then the love does not exist, or the dance is dead.
Carlos Saura has made mostly films that deal with dance, in his time. Even in his early days, when he did Garcia Lorca's Bloody Trilogy all acted out through dance, his style has only evolved in that in this film it hits its heights as a visual art stunningly cinematographed by Vittorio Storaro. His CARMEN, was very similar but lacked the outlandishly designed sets that this film has. CARMEN may have the better story, but this film has the better choreography and style.
How, then is one to rate a film like this. It's really not a film, in the sense that its totality is less a film than it is a magnificent evening at the theater seeing a superb troupe of dancers amidst the best direction and lights available anywhere. But Mario does tell his story, even from his young days, when he became involved in it. His painful marriage breakup, happens at a time when he needs the dance the most. The suggestion is that his wife was the inspiration for much of his work. An older man, talks about his days dancing, and how he has lost the joy of dancing since his wife died. Mario, appears afraid that this will happen to him. While the whole story is nebulously told, amidst the rehearsals and developing new moments in his life, Mario manages to show us how his own design and choreography takes shape. It may be simply the turning on of a fan, that immediately shows us dresses moving in the wind, to immediately show us how an artist can easily design and create his choreography. For Mario, it has been his life, and it is continuing to be so, as Elena walks in.
Carlos Saura has either elevated the Tango to a level that is beyond film, or this film is strictly a tribute to it. The visuals add to that immensely. I am not sure that this film would be as important, or as good as it is, were it not for the design of the sets and the magnificent choreography that it is centered around. For this task, three of the world's best considered Tango masters took on the honors, and one of them is the tireless instructor helping the young dancers go through their steps. Even though he is a much older man, he still has the grace and the beauty that the Tango demands, and he is not afraid to show it to his students.
A truly beautiful film, if there is such a thing, although this reviewer might have suggested that it need not be so darkly done. Colors everywhere accentuate the dances and the choreography by Juan Carlos Copes, Carlos Rivarola and Ann Maria Stekelman to make this a worthy candidate for the Oscar for best Foreign Language Film. With masters like Vittorio Storaro at the helm of the cameras, it shouldn't hurt its chances.
If you like dance, of any kind, this film is for you. If you like steroid films, please miss this one, or you will be bored senseless. But few films are capable of elevating anything, specially when it comes to an art form, and in this case it is impressive what one art form has done for another.
4 of 5 GIBLOONS Reviewed by Pedro Sena, Copyright (c) Pedro Sena 1999. All Rights Reserved.
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