Narrative Tango Films
This is a list of fictional films in which tango is a major theme or persistent presence. I am aware that it is incomplete: viewing and adding titles is an ongoing project. It goes from the ones I saw earliest (as best as I can recall) to the most recently. In "detail view," you can read my comments. Some I haven't watched yet are at the bottom. See also my lists of Tango Documentaries (e.g., "Our Last Tango) and Hera and There (non-tango films with a tango scene or element, e.g., "Scent of a Woman"). What film goes on what list is, needless to say, debatable.
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- DirectorMack SennettStarsCharles ChaplinFord SterlingRoscoe 'Fatty' ArbuckleOut of costume, Charlie is a clean-shaven dandy who, somewhat drunk, visits a dance hall. There the wardrobe girl has three rival admirers: the band leader, one of the musicians, and now Charlie.Chaplin at a dance hall - the prologue, and perhaps a little more, is recognizably tango. But tango serves as a thematic proxy for social dance and human relations in general, especially if sex, romantic rivalry, or both are involved.
- DirectorRex IngramStarsRudolph ValentinoAlice TerryPomeroy CannonAn extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.Whatever mis-perceptions it spawned, Valentino's gaucho tango routine is an iconic scene that charted the course of tango on film outside of Argentina. A very good professional dancer, he used the scene to establish his character at the start of one of the earliest and most epic of anti-war films.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsMarlon BrandoMaria SchneiderMaria MichiA young Parisian woman meets a middle-aged American businessman who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.Tango as an emblem of decadence, and an unforgettable soundtrack. A masterpiece if watched in ignorance, but it is hard to do so now (if at all) with a knowledge of how Maria Schneider was treated by Bertolucci in the film's most notorious scene.
- DirectorCarlos SauraStarsMiguel Ángel SoláCecilia NarovaMía MaestroMario Suarez is a forty-something tango artist, whose wife Laura has left him. He leaves his apartment and starts preparing a film about tango.Carlos Saura at his indispensable best.
- DirectorRobert DuvallStarsRobert DuvallLuciana PedrazaRubén BladesAn aging hitman gets a contract to kill a General in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But when his mark becomes unavailable, he becomes involved in Argentinian tango culture.Tango as a metaphor for the machinations of a hitman, but it has a pull of its own. The dance that accompanies the closing credits is unforgettable.
- DirectorLeonardo FavioStarsHernán PiquínNatalia PelayoAlejandra BaldoniAniceto is a lonely man who lives with his rooster in a little town in Mendoza. He falls in love with the sweet Francisca, but things will get tense when he also begins a relationship with the enigmatic and irresistible Lucia.A tango ballet based on an Argentine folk tragedy, somewhat in the vein of Carlos Saura's flamenco films.
- DirectorSally PotterStarsSally PotterPablo VerónMorgane MaugranA scriptwriter comes to Paris to work on her film. There she takes up tango lessons and forms a relationship with the dancer.The dance film is a popular genre based on the notion that learning a dance will change your life. Potter takes the formula and makes it sophisticated and personal.
- DirectorHernán GaffetStarsBetiana BlumJulia CalvoDaniel CasablancaA group of friends in their 30's meet at a bar in Buenos Aires everyday. They used to hang here as students, laughing at the world, and now they still dream of changing the world from the cafe's table. Unable discuss politics or football, the only thing they can talk about is women. When one of their friends commits suicide, a female from his past shows up to confront old feelings.A portrait of singles of various ages in Buenos Aires in the first decade of the new century. The cast includes the tango singer Dolores Sola, as well as her band La Chicana, and tango music, imagery and dance color the story throughout, not least in emotional communion of the final scene.
- DirectorJohn ReinhardtStarsCarlos GardelRosita MorenoEnrique de RosasRicardo Fuentes (Carlos Gardel) leaves Buenos Aires after loosing in horse races to go to Barcelona, where he plans to open a tango bar, a new concept of tango dance show and dance saloon. On the ship he meets Laura Montalván (Rosita Moreno) who happens to be a thief working with a thief pal. Ricardo watches them robbing a lady's bracelet aboard but decides not to report them because he has fallen in love with Laura. Once in Barcelona, he opens the tango bar but Laura's partner tells him he sold the bracelet and now needs to recover it to avoid both Laura and him going to jail."Tango Bar" begins with the classic montage of Gardel singing "Por una cabeza" with flashbacks to the horse race on which he lost it all. Even better follows, especially his bitter rendition of "Arrabal amargo," in this yarn of love and robbery that starts on the high seas and concludes in Barcelona.
- DirectorFernando E. SolanasStarsMarie LaforêtPhilippe LéotardMiguel Ángel SoláSome Argentinians, exiled in Paris, decide to put on a tango-ballet, dedicated to Carlos Gardel, a legendary Argentinian tango star.Tango, cunning, and exile - deeply Argentine with a Parisian spryness and a surreal edge. Some of the gender depictions are problematic from today's vantage, but it's a crucial film, touching greatness.
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierStarsCarlos GardelTrini RamosBlanca VischerA light-hearted comedy of errors including some beautiful songs by inimitable Carlos Gardel style.There's a lot of New York in Gardel's performance - fast-talking, two-timing, quick-on-the-uptake - and it's compelling. Gardel's movies are unlike most Argentine tango films in that not all of the singing is circumstantially naturalistic, even if set in a showbiz mileau. Show tunes are mixed up with emotionally motivated bursts into song to the sound of invisible orchestras. It's stylistically awkward, but part of the charm.
- DirectorLuis Moglia BarthStarsLibertad LamarquePepe AriasTita MerelloThis is the story of a love triangle between a tango singer, a dishonest man and a poor woman. She runs away with the bad man, knowing that she actually is with the wrong one. Rejected, the tango singer leaves to Paris to perform, hoping that he will find her there.The first Argentine optical sound film, an early and innovative classic.
- DirectorTulio DemicheliStarsTita MerelloSantiago Gómez CouMario FortunaThe quintessential Tita Merella film, with a social conscience and a touch of noir. Although the tango in it is not pervasive, it is set entirely in the tango universe and on classic tango themes. The title song is a classic.
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierStarsCarlos GardelMona MarisVincent PadulaCarlos Acosta (Carlos Gardel), tied to a flirty wife and in love with another girl, watches fate work out a solution that allows him to return to his real love after trips to Paris and New York City.A very good film, filled with iconic moments and drenched in the spirit of tango. The scene culminating in the title song is one such, so is another in which Gardel leads up to "Mi Buenos Aires quierido" with a masterful récitatif.
- DirectorJohn ReinhardtStarsCarlos GardelRosita MorenoTito LusiardoCarlos Argüelles is the son of a wealthy man whose only interests in life are business and making money. While trying to succeed in show business he falls in love with a dancer and they elope to marry. But success is not easy to obtain.The wonderfully gushy moonlit scene in which which the title song is sung - and elsewhere the young Piazzolla as an extra. There's a touch of tragedy in this one, along with redemption, and a remarkable double performance by Rita Moreno, whose talents are too easily overshadowed by the Gardel legend.
- DirectorStéphane BrizéStarsPatrick ChesnaisAnne ConsignyGeorges WilsonThe (love) life of a man fed up with his work and life routine changes when he enlists into a tango dancing course.The conceit of the dance film genre applies no less to tango: dance draws the lonely from their shells and changes lives. There's a superb sequence featuring the legendary tango couple Javier Rodríguez and Géraldine Rojas.
- DirectorSam GarbarskiStarsNatan CoganIshai GolanMosko AlkalaiAdolphe 'Dolfo' Rashevski travels to Israel with grandson Ric, but his brother, orthodox rabbi Samuel 'Shmouel, refuses to come attend their fellow Auschwitz survivor sister Rosa's funeral. Back in their home, the whole well-integrated family and their 'gojim' (non-Jewish and would-be) partners regularly wrestle with the meaning of Jewish blood, traditions and religion. For one it seems the way to gain a wife, for others the bomb under or the obstacle for a marriage. Yet love tends to conquer all but death.The special symbolic power of tango and history.
- DirectorLuis César AmadoriStarsSara MontielMaurice RonetIsabel GarcésA young woman working as a maid for a big time stage performer is mistaken for the star in Buenos Aires and becomes a great success in the land of the tango.Sara Montiel isn't convincing in the Argentine milieu, but she's a Spanish film star of the highest order.
- DirectorLeonard SchraderStarsVincent D'OnofrioMathilda MayFernando ReyWhen a young European woman assumes a false identity in 1920s Argentina, she gets more than she bargained for.Tawdry.
- DirectorAntonio MompletStarsHugo del CarrilCarmen MontejoSara GuaschHugo del Carril as a tango singer cagey about his past who shows up at a Mexican music hall looking for work.
- DirectorGuy ThysStarsDirk van DijckKoen van ImpeHilde NorgaAn office clerk with a hankering to tango enlists the support of a workplace colleague as he prepares for a date. It's Christmas time and the concept of giving assumes fairy tale proportions in this beguiling modern story.A comic fable of tango at Christmastime. Fun.
- DirectorGuillermo GrilloStarsIván EspecheSofía ElliotTalo SilveyraExplores the relation between a shy guy from Buenos Aires and the ghost of a man killed in 1920.The ghost of Ventarrón, tauro of the tango song by that name, haunts contemporary Buenos Aires.
- DirectorDaniel BurakStarsJuan Pablo BallinouNuria BurakRoberto BuzzoneMartina is a young editor that works for a television network. She is decided to make a documentary on the legendery Bar El Chino, a place where tango, friendship and love are highly valued. Her first night at Bar El Chino, she meets Jorge, a single father who was making a documentary about Bar El Chino also, but who had to leave it unfinished because of the economic depression. With the aid of Jorge, she will discover this wonderful place, get the documentary in progress, learn to love, and know what migration is like... from first-hand experience.Ode to a porteño institution, a glimpse of life and career in the Argentine capital.
- DirectorJaime ChávarriStarsDarío GrandinettiAitana Sánchez-GijónJuan EchanoveA woman's voice says she was wife to Renzo Franchi and Carlos Gardel (1890-1935), Argentina's great tango singer. People say she's crazy. Her story unfolds. Buenos Aires, 1933: Juana Romero, a seamstress who lives for the music of Gardel, dumps her boyfriend Gustavo for Renzo, a singer who looks like Gardel. She insists that his trio performs Gardel's tangos, which leads to Renzo recording a Ford commercial when Gardel himself is overbooked. The trio, with Joanna in tow, goes on an ill-fated tour of points north. The couple breaks up: she goes home and he tries to get to New York. Fate steps in, and once again he's called upon to pose as Gardel. Then, legend and a bracelet take over.An intriguing double personality conceit.
