Naked Tango

First of all I have to say, that NAKED TANGO made me fall in love with tango 9 years ago...Now I've seen it once again, the 6th time! I must say that dance scenes are stunningly beautiful, enchanting!

I was complaining about too few good tango scenes, but I wasn't correct because in this movie there are plenty of them. However they are not seen clear, I mean, you can not see all body of the dancers in motion, to fix the steps. But it's not important now. Because I've understood why. Dancers are covered by twilight, shadow, by secret. The main thing there is the soul, not steps. It's the style of the movie.

The one thing I don't love, it's murdering and violence. Yes, I know, the world is cruel, the tango is cruel. It's true. But is it really the only end to finish our passionate creations, seekings, our love in the death?

Although I myself have been dancing Argentine tango just a year, but I found in this various emotions, such as tenderness, longing, grief, sadness, melancholy, even weakness.

In this movie there is one tango scene, at the end, there Cholo and Alba are dancing in her house. Slow, very slow and smooth, with music full of tenseness, presentation of disaster and tenderness at the same time. I love this.

Upon witnessing a suicide on board a trans-Atlantic vessel, a woman assumes the identity of the deceased to escape for a new life.

It turns out that the woman who's life she is replacing in a Polish mail order bride for a rich man in Argentina, who just so happens to run a brothel for the unequal male-female ratio population.

Ah-ha, not quite the lucky break she was hoping for then.

Two rival gangs operate in the city: the Argentines and Jews, and a powerful figure in the Jewish gangland is scheduled to be her first official customer.

I won't spoil it by telling what happens from here on out, but the woman's obsession with the tango-swirling hit-man of the Argentinian gang, Cholo, complicates things, as he battles with himself to keep his emotional distance from a woman he finds truly fascinating...

Superb acting, lavish sets, a simple yet powerful script and all that tango just makes this one quite unforgettable.

I'd strongly suggest anyone looking for something new to hunt down a copy and give this one a go.

In spite of a strong cast, including the very talented Fernando Rey, and sumptuous settings, this movie is simply a pretentious failure. The story revolves around the sado-masochistic relation between a hoodlum and a hapless woman, the latter abducted into forced prostitution in Argentina. There is surprisingly little eroticism in this movie, even with the presence of the ever lovely, and ever nude, Ms. May. The ill-fated couple tango their way to romance, but the utter lack of chemistry between D'Onofrio and May, compunded by a poorly scripted story line, strains the viewer's credulity. I admire Mr. Schraders' work in other films, but this one was definitely off-the-mark. The video is hard to find but it is most assuredly not a lost masterpiece.

I can see why many people dislike this film. Some of the scenes in it are more suggestions of reality than reality itself. I personally liked it. The settings were superb. The dancing wonderful. Cholo, melting the girl's heart just by fancy footwork is amazing.

Argentinian Tango musicians will tell you that they have witnessed many couples copulating while they dance the tango, hence the blindfolded trio makes this suggestion. (Since writing that I have been informed that tango musicians WERE sometimes blindfolded in real life.)

The costumes and especially the lighting are terrific.

The relationship between the two central characters is complex: less talk more S & M.

Almost 10 years ago, it happened one night that I got into the theater ( a kind of B-movie theater of double feature ) in the back street of Seoul in Korea. I didn't even know the title of this film when I bought the ticket. Now I am studying film in Art School in San Francisco and still remember the powerful imagery and storytelling of the film. This film shaked my fundamental concept of the film itself and it still gives me the energetic interaction of the very unique aesthetics and visual ecstacy. I could not forget the night of watching this film still now. I think Hector Babenco should adore this film.