Writer and director Carlos Saura's TANGO, this year's Oscar nominated foreign film from Spain, is a disappointment in just about every dimension -- think FLASHDANCE without the flash or drama. TANGO is two movies, a languid romance that happens off the dance floor and a lackluster dance film, with its the singularly uninspired choreography. Rather than sizzle, the best the dancers ever achieve is a small smolder.
In a year in which some wonderful foreign films such as Thomas Vinterberg's THE CELEBRATION were not nominated, why TANGO got a nomination remains a mystery. Recent pictures like DANCE WITH ME and even the much maligned but energetic THE TANGO LESSON show how naturally dance and film go together. Saura's TANGO, on the other hand, is remarkably flat and lifeless.
So much is wrong with TANGO that it is hard to know where to start discussing it. When the characters aren't dancing, the movie is DOA. Miguel Angel Sola plays the story's lead, Mario Suarez, with all the emotive power of a large stone figure. In one of the story's dead-end subplots, his girlfriend, Elena Flores (Mia Maestro), used to belong to a Mafia Godfather, who now may be a threat to her. Typical of the problems with the non-dance "action," is the excruciatingly long scene of Mario and Elena at a restaurant where they make small talk, very small talk. She complains that men don't think beautiful women can be intelligent, and he promises that he doesn't believe that at all. The scene plays like the cinematic retread that it is.
The tango, described as "one body with four legs," with its carefully controlled, limited movements is made to look easy and trivial. Whereas most dance films develop appreciation among the audience for the dances, this one makes the dances feel like they're being done in slow motion. A tango can and should be exciting, the opposite of this film. Still, the dances are preferable to the rest of the story. "What a lot of nonsense," Mario says at one point. I couldn't have said it better.
TANGO runs way too long at 1:45. It is rated PG-13 for sensuality and a little profanity and would be fine for kids around 10 and up.
