Tango, un giro extraño

I just watched "Tango, un giro extraño", written and directed by Mercedes García Guevara. Great film. I enjoyed it immensely from start to finish. It has an interesting story line that helps people like me reach a deeper understanding of tango and what it means to many of its devoted followers. If you are as ignorant as I was about what tango is, please do yourself a favor and watch this film.

The cinematography was sumptuous and well thought out, creatively moving from moody indoor scenes rich in visual textures to street scenes that made me want to hop on a plane and visit Buenos Aires right away. It looks like an exciting city if you have an appreciation of architectural / textural / city art in its various unsanitized forms. But, this is not a tourist film. It's about art. It's about life. And most of all, it's about tango ... and that's where it keeps its focus … on tango.

The dance scenes were a wonderful blend of young, not so young and older dancers, which for me reinforced the tapestry of life in which we start out knowing nothing. But with some effort and a bit of luck, life can be fulfilling, no matter what our financial situation. The musicians and dancers seemingly have already figured this out and have found their joy in tango, which will be obvious to anyone who watches this film. One of the dance scenes, which I keep replaying it in my mind, is beautifully haunting.

I saved the best for last. The music was terrific, and it was artfully blended into the film in such a way that it kept all the various scenes flowing from one to the next - sometimes gently, sometimes with much gusto, always in an interesting manner. The film itself was for me a great combination of education and artistic high entertainment. What better way to spend an evening? If you are a lover of art and life itself, I highly recommend that you see this lovely film.

Bravo Ms. Guevara!

An excellent discovery we made in finding this interesting documentary by director Mercedes Garcia Guevara, whose work is unknown to us. At the end of it, one kept wishing for more because after being given a tour through the Argentine capital, listening to glorious music and watching how the tango is really danced, we didn't wanted it to stop.

What comes across in the film is how the younger generations are finding pleasure in one of the most sensual expressions between two people when they dance the tango. The old songs have also taken a new meaning for current audiences. The tango has to be one of the sexiest forms of dancing as proved when we watch the last couple in the film executing the intricate steps of that number.

Of course, to really enjoy the tango, one must go to its source: Buenos Aires, where it was born from humble origins in the poor neighborhoods of the city. Carlos Gardel, perhaps the most celebrated interpreter of the tango, is an idol for the new generation who were born more than forty, or fifty years after his tragic death in Colombia. We are even taken to his grave, which is a glorious monument to his memory.

The music in the film is quite enjoyable. The selections one hears in the documentary are not the well known ones, making our discovery even better since we had not heard most of the tunes before. It is a joy to see the young people we meet sharing such a passion for an art form that will live forever.

Thanks to Mercedes Garcia Guevara for this marvelous trip to the present.

Tango, not just the fabled dance, but also the music, is alive and well in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the third feature film from Argentinean director, Mercedes Garcia Guevara, the viewer enters the musical world of tango artists such as La Chicana, Fernando Otero, Las Muñecas and others. The film recounts tango's transformation from the traditional songs of Carlos Gardel, through Astor Piazzolla's rearticulating of the genre, to the current hip trends of tango today. The film stunningly depicts the beauty of this city that never sleeps - hypnotic Buenos Aires - and its nocturnal music aficionados.

Guevara captures the musicians in their day-to-day studio and practice sessions, even in front of their computers and music composition software, as well as their live stage performances in Buenos Aires. Back stage interviews with the musicians and their thoughts on tango as not just orchestra-style dance music but 'Argentina's new rock 'n roll' give the documentary some additional color.

I found the performances by La Chicana particularly moving, led by female vocalist Dolores Sola, who does some sensual tango dance moves on stage while singing. Acho Estel's guitar gives the band's tunes additional strength. The dancing aspect of tango is not ignored as we see a young couple that teaches tango to children at a school. Also, the film features a formal dance scene accompanied by a pianist and guitarist that is both provocative and sensual. Iván Gierasinchuk's photography is darkly lit, creating an erotic, nocturnal feel for the film.

Overall, I found the film to be both educational and entertaining, as I know very little about both the tango and Argentina. Often, I find musical documentaries to be either too egotistical or filled with 'over the top' performance sequences littered with animation graphics. Tango, A Strange Turn drew me into the story early with the use of archival photographs and film sequences of Buenos Aires in the 1930's and 1940's. Both the music and the musicians featured portray an honest and passionate lifestyle dedicated to the revival of this often misunderstood genre, which is not just a dance.

The film premiered in May of 2004 at the Cannes Film Festival and has been screened at the 2004 Toulouse Latin America Film Festival and 2004 Latinbeat (New York City). Max Films International of Canada is the distributor.