Tango Review

In Carlos Saura`s Tango, which was nominated for best foreign film, the wife of Mario, Miguel Angel Sola, a once great tango dancer, has left him, and he`s facing a mid-life crisis. He throws himself into plans to make a film about the tango, and is persuaded to star Elena, Mia Maestro, the mistress of a powerful businessman with a very bad reputation. Unwisely, Mario falls in love with his star. The plot is wafer-thin but serves as a peg on which to hang a series of breathtakingly exciting dance routines ....Carlos Saura`s most popular films have always been those in which dance assumed centre stage - Blood Wedding, Carmen, El Amor Brujo. Now the Spanish director, accompanied by the great Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro has made a film set in Buenos Aires and based around the tango. For dance lovers, this will be sheer delight - and Storaro`s sumptuous widescreen photography is an important contribution to the film`s success.An added bonus are the clips from rarely seen old movies which also dealt with the tango. Interestingly, the incidental music is the work of the American composer, Lalo Schifrin. Dance sequences which depict the brutality of the military in Argentina in the 70s and the arrival of early immigrants to the country are especially exciting, and the three choreographers credited have done sterling work.