Assassination Tango

I love this movie. Beautiful. Thank you. The cast, the scenes, the music, the story, the cinematography. Perfect. Total entertainment. The drama, the comedy, the dance, even the smells. Robert Duvall's name in a picture guarantees great value. I wish to see many more of these superb works from the director and all the actors, and other creators of this film. Here is another example of great American movie making. I also want to say thanks to Sundance to show this piece on TV, unfortunatelly there aren't any movie theaters that would show this and similar movies. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys watching a movie with great acting, nice music, and not the usual boring plot.

I have seen this movie and thought it was great. The casting is well done because the characters are actually down to earth people. The acting is closer to the way people are in the real world, which makes parts of the plot more tangible. The photography also makes this movie worth seeing, as it shows the world as it is, not changed in any way whatsoever. For the acting and the plot, as well as the photography, this movie is worth seeing. The movie transports the viewer to the areas the main character goes to, which makes the movie extremely enjoyable. The music is great, and is the basis of the movie, and helps it move along while keeping the viewer interested in it.

I took a shot at buying this DVD sight-unseen, something I rarely do and usually regret, but not in this case. I found it even more fascinating than I hoped, thanks to a totally-unknown actress. Two viewings within a year has not changed my opinion.

This movie is just different, a unique portrait of strange older hit-man and the people in his life. I am not surprised a number of viewers did not like this film, even fans of Robert Duvall. It's probably just too quirky for most tastes and too slow for most viewers. Despite being low- key, there are some moments of intense temper and violence on the part of Duvall which helps keep ones attention.

I didn't need that, however, to keep my attention. Just trying to figure out Duvall kept me intrigued. My attention, however, accelerated when newcomer Luciana Pedraza entered the picture.

Pedraza is one of the most interesting "new faces" I've seen on film: a woman who has intelligence written over her face as few modern actresses ever have. This woman has a lot to offer: looks, intelligence, a good figure, a great dancer, wonderful voice and despite being Argentine, speaks better English than many Americans. A pity that as of this review in October of 2005, this is still her only screen appearance.

Between her and Duvall - who are both complex characters to say the least - along with some wonderfully-colorful cinematography, great dance scenes and intrigue about how an assassination plot will turn out, I found this film very pleasing.

This is unknown film that isn't fully appreciated not only with the public but with the reviewers here.

If you just want to watch some good dancing then you can watch most of this film and enjoy. If you want a movie with real substance you'll need to look elsewhere. I got this kind of surreal feeling about all the characters in this movie, except for the Argentinean dancers. There probably supposed to be some higher meaning to this movie to correlate the tango with the job of an assassin, but I missed it to be sure. Its not like you won't understand what's going on while you watch the movie, but you may wonder what's the bigger picture to all the small interactions between the characters.

With the exception of the main plot, featuring Robert Duvall, I don't feel like there was any closure on the sub-plots and the characters played by Ruben Blades, Luciana Pedraza, and some of the other assorted supporting characters. There is a lot of room to expand upon the intrigues and double-crosses witnessed in the movie, but there really isn't a lot of explanation as to why someone is doing what they are doing and for whom they are doing it. This is what led me to the incomplete feeling I got watching this film. Maybe a director's cut might shed some light on a lot of the questions I found myself asking about character motives and behaviors.

This a movie that no one will fault you for missing and no one will look at you like you've got four heads if you go see it. Although, I think many people will be saying "I never heard of it".

In `Assassination Tango,' a film for which he provided both script and direction, Robert Duvall plays an aging professional killer who also happens to be a tango aficionado. Like the gangsters in `The Godfather,' John J. Anderson is able to compartmentalize the morally contradictory elements of his life: he can gun down in cold blood a total stranger, while at the same time lavishing limitless love and affection on his girlfriend and the ten-year old `stepdaughter' whom he worships and adores. When he is sent to Buenos Aires to take out a disreputable retired general, John falls in love with both a lovely young dancer and the style of `genuine' tango dancing to which she introduces him.

`Assassination Tango,' despite the unsavory elements of the story, is a quiet, muted film that is more about this strangely paradoxical character than it is about either assassination or tango. John is a man who has kept his emotions pretty well in check his whole life and now, as he begins to see the end of that life coming, he feels the need to make some kind of meaningful connection with the people around him. What makes John interesting is the way in which Duvall has chosen to portray him. For the most part, John seems totally subdued in his mannerisms and tone of voice, but he often erupts unexpectedly in fits of uncontrolled mania and violence – aimed more at objects like payphones or people who annoy him than at his carefully chosen victims, whom he liquidates with an emotional detachment worthy of his profession. Duvall hits all the right notes in making his character both frighteningly bizarre and strangely sympathetic all at the same time.

As a writer, Duvall does better with dialogue than with the narrative framework as a whole. Particularly effective is John's constantly asking the Argentineans with whom he's conversing to repeat what they have just said. Most writer/directors would not be shrewd enough to add this calculated bit of realism, which seems just right given the bilingual situation he has set up. Unfortunately, Duvall's considerably less successful with the story itself, which often wanders aimlessly, lacks clarity (particularly in the cloak-and-dagger sequences) and suffers from an overall failure to meld the various elements into a compelling whole. The supporting performers are all good, but, ultimately, we are left wondering just what Duvall had in mind when he set about making this film. If his purpose was to show that even coldhearted killers can love their kids and appreciate art and beauty, then that ground was pretty much covered by `The Godfather' movies. Even the tango scenes are generally blasé and uninspiring, forcing us to wonder just what it is about this dance that both intoxicates John and leads one of the women in the film to say that the tango is `life, love, hate,' an encomium that certainly doesn't seem justified by the dance sequences in this film.

`Assassination Tango' deserves to be seen for Duvall's performance and for the uniqueness of both its setting and its main character. Just don't expect to be swept off your feet by the dancing.