Mango Tango

I had the pleasure of seeing "Mango Tango" at a movie theater in Berlin, Germany, where I've been living for a few years now. I really enjoyed being able to see the film in the original English version and was struck that the German audience was very responsive to the humor of the film. The writer/ director Ms. Hettinger was present at the screening. I loved the film, its originality, unique take on the New York singles scene and "looking for love in all the wrong places" which a lot of people can relate to, I'm sure. It is definitely an art house film. But rather than labeling it, it's a surreal, entertaining and visually very gratifying work. Wonderful acting by the lead actors, including Ms. Hettinger's performance, who manages to show a subtly and not so subtly nuanced performance. I loved Michael E. Knight, Emmy award winner and star of all My children as a fake preposterous Shaman with a light Southern accent. Many of the scenes are so hilarious: the Iowasca scene, a tantric sex scene in a way I've never seen before and not for the faint of heart and coconut rolling rituals to bust one's "karma". I love Ms. Hettinger's self deprecating humor and the deus ex machina ending which according to screen writing guru Robert McKee is a "no no", but really works in this absurd and touching film. But isn't life absurd most of the time?

First the positive: the first five minutes, in a comic-book-meets-Allen kind of way aren't that bad. But really only the first five minutes. The film does do what's on the tin: there's a great deal of tangoes and mangoes. I may suggest, tho, that an even more apt title would be "Me, myself and I" as the filmmaker can't resist putting herself in every single shot: she's practically photobombing her own movie. I get the premise: to reveal the grotesque side of love stories through a heavy use of symbolism. Sadly, such good premise is betrayed almost immediately, and all we get is a lot of little boring dance numbers and wheelbarrows of self-indulgent rubbish. There are several recurring themes which don't mean absolutely anything: apart from the regular mango eating and tango dancing, we get excruciatingly long sequences, for example, of the protagonist just walking on a beach. Or frowning. Or looking in the far distance.

The bottom line is: you can't film yourself doing mundane things for one hour and a half and call it an art-house movie.

I am very impressed with this 1st effort by this extremely talented and stunningly beautiful director-writer-actress-dancer-singer-pianist !! I was blown away by the originality of the writing, the quirckiness of the humor and the character development, the bravery of the actors, the quality and integration of the music, the authentic and honest choreography, and the cleanliness and simplicity of the cinematography. I laughed , and sighed, and felt my heart open to the sadness and frustration and joy and exhiliration of this woman's life situation around men. And her efforts to process and grow through these experiences was a pleasure and honor to watch. The willingness of this lead actress to "expose" all parts of herself to us all is commendable.! The integration of fantasy and reality , I believe , served us as an audience, in keeping us involved in the lead character's inner thoughts and some of her logic for the choices she made . I look forward to seeing the sophomore project by this director..

What I found interesting about this film is that the lead character, a New York City dance teacher, has an easy time dancing with men in harmony but in her private life it's a whole other story. She meets heart break after heart break. Somehow she manages to keep up her positive spirit though even though her life is in danger at one point. The filmmaker, Marianne Hettinger, takes risks to show her heroine's story: a love scene that goes quite far without showing too much, a straight man who channels a gay guy from Chelsea named Brian and a storyline that moves from New York to Germany. The look of the film is great for what must have been a small budget. I enjoyed watching a scene with the legendary dancer/choreographer David Parsons as well as Nicolas Kosovich, a Dancing With The Stars alumni.

I watched this film a long time ago in Berlin, Germany in the Casablanca theatre and was amazed by this - back then gutsy first time filmmaker. She was present at the Q and A and her presence was authentic and interesting - such a beautiful woman- as it was on screen. How did she come up with all these quirky scenes! I loved the music, the dance and the humor where she portrayed herself as a naive woman who is looking for the perfect mate. The scenes are far out and the cinematography gorgeous. Highly recommended!