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 Tango Touches (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.
- DirectorPedro StockiYoung males finding their way. Tango plays a part.
- 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.
- DirectorHernán FindlingOliver KolkerStarsHéctor AlterioEsteban BortnikCarlos CopelloA patient expresses himself using the lyrics and titles of tango songs as a result of a post traumatic stress disorder discovered by a psychiatrist.An inventive search for personal and diagnostic meaning in the dance and the lyrics of tango.
- DirectorMarianne HettingerStarsMarianne HettingerMichael E. KnightJohn A. GallagherA New York City dance teacher's search for the ideal mate leads her down a challenging and downright dangerous path.A New York tango teacher's search for love.
- DirectorCarlos PalauStarsAlejandro AguilarDavid PáezNicole QuinteroColombian tug-of-war over the remains of Gardel, based on a novel of the same name.
- DirectorJulio SaraceniStarsVirginia LuqueRoberto BordoniJosé ComellasThe related genres of cuplé and tango are dramatically connected in the story of a mother and daughter, each singers, separated by war and death, both wonderfully played by Virginia Luque.
- DirectorManuel RomeroStarsVirginia LuqueJuan José MiguezFernando LamasThe director of a tango ensemble is in love with its singer, but she marries another man who later leaves her. Already elderly, your children will fulfill their dreams.Fact and fiction mingle in a tale of two generations, informing as history and engaging as drama.
- DirectorLuis Bayón HerreraStarsHugo del CarrilAmanda LedesmaBerta AlianaThe romance between a singer and a young society and its impact on the circle of friends.Tango star mobbed by paparazzi and screaming fans, in love with a socialite above his class.
- DirectorNikos KoutelidakisStarsGiannis BezosGiannis StankoglouAntinoos AlbanisAt the time of the Greek junta, in an isolated army camp, a lieutenant forces a soldier to teach him the tango in order to ask the wife of his Colonel to dance with him.Visually atmospheric and well-acted, but with a directorial attitude that implies greater emotional depth than it delivers.
- DirectorFernando E. SolanasStarsSusú PecoraroMiguel Ángel SoláPhilippe LéotardThe movie starts while Floreal, the main protagonist, was being released from the prison when the military coup ended in 1983. He is estranged to his former life because of his last few years in prison and especially discovering his wife has cheated on him soured their relation. He is not sure if he wants to go back to his old life and family. Wandering through the night his old friend "El-Negro" appears in the dark. He announces that he was assassinated during the military coup and he is a dead man now. But he has a special mission this night and he is back for this special occasion: To help Floreal catch up fast and face with his life and his time in prison. El-Negro helps him to watch through the important events happened in his absence. He confronts some people of importance to him as he wanders around through the night while his wife is waiting for him anxiously thinking he might never come back. During the long night El-Negro helps him to get past with his anger, makes him to understand the difficulties in such a controversial time and how military coup crushes people's lives and even killing a some of them relentlessly. Finally during the dawn, El-Negro announces that he is ready to go on with his life now and he must be back. Floreal figures that he must be strong and continue his life where he left off like his coup stricken country.Tango is the least of the reasons to watch this post-dictatorial masterpiece, but it rises like dust from the ruins of a culture in rebirth. With Roberto Goyeneche and a Piazzolla soundtrack.
- DirectorMarcos ZurinagaStarsRaul JuliaValeria LynchRubén JuárezA fled Tango show owner returns to Buenos Aires to join his partners after the oppressive government of Argentina has dissolved.There's a loose story of an exiled bandoneonista returning to Buenos Aires, but this is mostly a veiled introduction to tango history and a showcase for some good dancing and interesting film clips.
- DirectorEduardo MoreraStarsOlinda BozánTita MerelloTito LusiardoTwo deceived women plot revenge against their husbands. A composer is cheated on by an adventurer whose girlfriend he falls in love with.A remarkable film in many ways. It is based on a sainete, a light theatrical genre that was a vehicle for the premiere of numerous tangos, and gives a glimpse into how the songs worked theatrically. There's also a capsule history of tango in show form that starts with its African and working class origins and moves up the cultural escalator to upper class respectability.
- DirectorAlberto de ZavalíaStarsMirtha LegrandMariano MoresYeya DucielThe Spanish title sounds less silly: "La doctora quiera tangos." The doctor's acquaintance with a tango musician stirs up his personal life - and hers. There's less tango than one would expect, but in addition to being very entertaining, the film provides a glimpse into differing class and generational attitudes towards tango and tangueros. With the tango composer Mariano Mores in a role similar to himself.
- DirectorFrédéric FonteyneStarsFrançois DamiensSergi LópezJan HammeneckerA prison guard is attracted to a woman at his weekly tango class. They meet again when she visits her husband in the prison where he works and he is drawn into her complicated romantic life. Meanwhile the prisoners are learning the tango.A very good film with an excellent cast, including the important Argentine dancer Chicho Frumboli.
- DirectorDiego Martínez VignattiStarsEugenia RamírezBruno TodeschiniDora BaretA woman tries to get back on her feet after suffering from a devastating break-up.A beautiful, psychologically subtle work of visual, musical, and dramatic art.
- DirectorLucas DemareStarsGraciliano BatistaCayetano BiondoRoberto BlancoA gentleman named Pascual is very outgoing; enjoys music, singing, and writing poetry. He has a somewhat overbearing wife, and soon falls in love with a beautiful singer, Lita, that has come into town to sing. His wife sees him one day kissing Lita and she leaves with their son. At first Pascual decides to be with Lita and work where she is singing, but when it doesn't work out, he is forced to face the realities of life.A very well-made film that imagines the circumstances under which Pascual Contursi might have written the lyrics to the landmark tango of the title. With Anibal Troilo on the bandoneón.
- DirectorLuis Moglia BarthStarsRosita ContrerasEnrique Santos DiscépoloAmanda LedesmaA delightful adaptation of a stage play that portrays the strange goings on at a Buenos Aires radio station between its star tango singer and hyperkinetic director, played by the great tango songwriter Enrique Santos Discépolo.
- DirectorRogelio LobatoStarsGuillermina QuirogaJordi CaballeroDianna MirandaA dark comedy/drama of a woman's decent into madness by love. Family and loved ones try to save her but but are sucked into the madness with her. Greek tragedy mixed with farce tells this tale of passionate love and lust.A mildly diverting yarn of sex, murder, neurosis, tango, and hallucination, best for the impeccable dancing of Guillermina Quiroga and an original tango score.
- DirectorManuel RomeroStarsFlorencio ParraviciniMecha OrtizSantiago ArrietaA man lets his mistress down (Mireya) and marries a high society woman. He will not be happy. Over the years, he will meet Mireya, who is now old and ill and is mistreated by his own son.From the good old days of tango, when the dance was working class and disreputable, to its bourgeois transformation, a doomed love affair across the class divide, wonderfully plotted and acted. The early milonga dance scenes are a special treat.
- DirectorTulio DemicheliStarsMariano MoresDiana MaggiSantiago Gómez CouRoberto Morán is a provincial newcomer to Buenos Aires, where he works as a factory worker, who plays the bandoneon "by ear" and wants to learn music in a conservatory run by an old frustrated musician, Don Matías.A story rich in dichotomy: high art versus the popular, the allure of Europe and the U.S. versus a distinct Argentine identity, wealth versus work, urban versus rural, played out in a musical fable that features Mariano Mores and cameos by Canaro and D'Arienzo. There is also a disturbing scene in blackface that, while musically strong and culturally illuminating, suggests that a known practice of white men's clubs in the 19th century carnaval is not so historically distant as one would have hoped.
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierStarsImperio ArgentinaCarlos GardelVincent PadulaRoberto Ramirez (Carlos Gardel) is a gambler who meets Alina (Imperio Argentina) and takes the decision to change his life.Cardplay, gunplay, aliases, love, and tango: delightful Gardel and with Imperio Argentina too.
- DirectorLucien JaqueluxStarsCarlos GardelImperio ArgentinaLolita BenaventeA creole singer tries to date with dancer, who tries to avoid him.The visuals of this romantic musical short are missing, but the soundtrack survives and is fun to listen to. I've seen a version with bits of other films pieced together to simulate some of the scenes.
- DirectorLuis César AmadoriMario SofficiStarsPepe AriasAlicia VignoliCharloThe film shows for the first time in Argentine cinematography images of Villa Desocupación, reflecting the levels of exclusion generated by the economic policy of the 1930s, known as the Infamous Decade.Class is a frequent theme of the Argentine tango film, no more so than in this enjoyable comedy, in which a young rich woman plucks a street singer and his socially awkward sidekick from poverty to advance his life and career. Like many tango films, it gives us a glimpse into what stage shows of the time may have been like, including, in this case, some squirm inducing racial imagery on a theatrical backdrop.
- DirectorJulio SaraceniStarsAlberto CastilloMaría Concepción CésarJacinto HerreraA singer who reached world fame returns to his country and with his friends recalls episodes of his youth.Return is a stock subject of tango and tango films, in this case of a tango singer from abroad. Most the story is told through the ingenious device of flashbacks from the title song as he sings it in a homecoming concert. The value placed on friendship and neighborhood in Argentine culture is the animating emotion of a very well made film.
- DirectorTito DavisonStarsLibertad LamarqueYolanda VarelaEnrique RambalA daughter who idolizes her father discovers, just before he dies, that he was leading a double life and had a hidden lover. Without knowing it, the heartbroken daughter becomes a friend to her father's other woman.A lushly felt, richly filmed, and superbly structured melodrama about a love held in secret for decades between an Argentine tango singer and a married man. The story is told both through and in flashbacks between the verses of tangos sung by Libertad Lemarque in the leading role.
- DirectorAntonio MompletStarsHugo del CarrilAída AlbertiNelly DarénThat is: "La cumparsita." A tango singer cum journalist is sent to Europe during the Great War, where he is injured in a bombardment and loses his memory. A certain tune keeps going through his head...
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierStarsCarlos GardelGoyita HerreroLolita BenaventeA drama of love about a rich girl and a singer who hides his real identity.Gardel gives this a tango frame, but it is also something of an españolada, with horsemen in capes and some sinuous flamenco from co-star Goyita Herrero.
- DirectorLeón KlimovskyStarsManuel AlcónAlberto BarcelAmelia BenceInspired, doubtless with license, by an early 20th century brothel keeper known by the nickname in the title, this provides a wonderful glimpse of the cabaret culture that interacted both with tango and prostitution. La parda Flora is a strong business woman who knows how to play the system and has two daughters she raises apart from the trade; she is herself (in this imagining) a tango singer. It is more than once reminiscent of "Mrs. Warren's Profession," Shaw's play on a similar theme in Victorian England.
- DirectorAdelqui MigliarStarsCarlos GardelSofía BozánGloria GuzmánA headhunter search for talents in the Argentinian country. He recruits two sisters for his show. But soon they will discover the big city is not made for them.This is said to have launched Gardel's international fame in Spanish speaking countries, and it is easy to see why; for mainly for that reason it qualifies as a "tango film." It is as rich in folklore and the porteño variety show as in tango specifically, which dramatizes, along with the story, the appropriation by upper-class urban elites of criollo culture. Gardel's co-star Sofía Bozán is the film's protagonist and a great talent in her own right.
- DirectorEnrique Santos DiscépoloStarsHugo del CarrilAna María LynchMaría Esther GamasWritten by the brothers Discépolo and directed by Enrique, "En la luz de una estrella" is one of the more interesting of the Hugo del Carrill films I've seen thus far. He plays a tango singer struggling with fame and the drag it puts on his personal relationships, which are tortuous and even tragic. Still, it is not a downer, and the songs as he sings them evoke the travails of his heart.
- DirectorFrancisco MúgicaStarsMario FortunaGilda LousekEnzo VienaThree boys whose street antics entertain us grow up to tour Europe in an orquesta tipica as the Great War looms and political change is underway in Argentina. Add in romantic longing and the class consciousness of the '40s and '50s, and the effect is epic, if a bit slow moving.
- DirectorEnrique CarrerasStarsRodolfo BebánSusana CamposOsvaldo MirandaThe romance between a young man from a wealthy family and the dancer from a place of fun.This remake and homage to the 1937 classic is filmed in the manner of a richly appointed historical drama and owes something, perhaps, to Visconti's 1960s visual style and melodramatic sensibility. A surprisingly rich experience, although it was not well received at the time.
- DirectorAlberto de ZavalíaStarsHugo del CarrilDelia GarcésElsa O'ConnorI've always suspected that Hugo del Carril saw himself as stepping into the void created for a male tango lead after the death of Gardel, and it's amusing to see him mimick not just El Zorzal's vocals but the distinctive facial expressions that went with them. That he is, in the end, no Gardel, goes without saying, and the film, while well enough made, is a thoroughly fanciful look at his life, even by the loose standards of a biopic.
- DirectorLeopoldo Torres RíosStarsTito LusiardoAmelia BenceFloren DelbeneBased on the tango dance and also tropical rhythms.A smartly plotted and charmingly acted tale of a discarded lyric that becomes the basis for a hit tango.
- DirectorManuel RomeroStarsFlorencio ParraviciniTito LusiardoHugo del CarrilRomance - with its ruptures and reunions - between a girl and a boy who want to succeed with the tango.A tango singer embarking on an international career experiences emotional ups and downs as painful as the ones of which he sings - the exigencies of love, alcohol, poverty, and despair. But like so many Argentine tango films - and unlike the typical tango - it is a comedy in the end: those who should be together get together. Sabina Olnos is especially good in this one, in particular for her interpretation of "Mi noche triste."
- DirectorManuel RomeroStarsFernando OchoaTita MerelloSevero FernándezIn a theater, love stories and a murder.Love, murder, and amateur crime solving among tango show people. Tita Merella has a peerless presence and Irma Córdoba, although less well-known, is nearly as good.
- DirectorHomero ManziRalph PappierStarsHugo del CarrilAída LuzOrquídea PinoTells the story of Bettinotti, a mythical character of the music Argentina.Written and co-directed by the great tango lyricist Homero Manzi, "El último payador" is an elegy to the popular singers whose art influenced Gardel and eventually gave way to the tango canción. Manzi takes some license with the timeline by having the dying payador - the last if his kind - hear a record of Gardel singing "Mi noche triste," the song that established him as a tango singer (the lyricist, Pascual Contursi, is a character in the film). The black-and-white cinematography is lush, with some exceptionally imaginative shots, including one through the strings of the payador's guitar as he approaches it for the comfort of playing it one last time.
- DirectorJohn AltonCésar José GuerricoLadislao KishStarsLuis ArataLuis SandriniLuisa VehilThe members of a Buenos Aires family have three hobbies -'berretines' in Buenos Aires slang- that keep them apart of their duties. Because of that, the family business is going down, and the only one who is concerned is the father, who hopes for his fourth son, an architect, to save the situation.In this second Argentine sound film (released on the heels of ¡Tango!), three hobbies - or berretines - distract several middle class siblings from their duties to the family store - soccer, movies, and tango. The youngest son writes tango tunes by sounding them out on pots and pans in the shop, and they end up being played by the likes of Troilo and Fresedo, who are both in the movie. It's a clever plot, amusingly acted and filmed.
- DirectorManuel RomeroStarsAlberto CastilloElvira RíosSevero FernándezObsessed by a Mexican singer, an Argentine doctor arrives in Paris; Far from his land he begins to find his true identity transforming into a singer of tangos."Tango Returns to Paris" is uneven and at times overacted to the point of hyperactivity, but it gets interesting in its final leg. Aníbal Troilo has a ongoing role, and Alberto Castillo is predictably good to excellent. It has one extraordinary moment: a gut-wrenching, near a capella interpretation of the bolero "Perfidia" by the Mexican singer-actor Elvira Rios on the deck of a cruise ship as the Atlantic roils beneath.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsLeslie CheungTony Leung Chiu-waiChang ChenA couple take a trip to Argentina but both men find their lives drifting apart in opposite directions.A same sex couple from Taiwan and Hong Kong reach a personal and financial breaking point while traveling in Argentina. When one of them takes a job as doorman at the Buenos Aires tango club Café Sur, tango becomes a subtle but vital influence on the ups and downs that follow. It seems to drop out halfway through but returns with powerful effect as the narrator-protagonist's emotional journey nears resolution.
- DirectorFernando SiroStarsManuela BravoElena CruzJuan Carlos DamiaBy a notice, the heir to a fortune called Juan González is summoned. There are three people with that name but only one has the right to the inheritance. To receive it, you must live with a mysterious lady and her daughter to access it.The plot concerns three orphaned youths named in an inheritance conditioned upon them living with a young woman and her mother for one year. One of them, played by Guillermo Fernández, is an aspiring tango singer who bursts periodically into song. Although the film is not about tango per se, it is clearly intended as a showcase for his talents (he is still singing today). The title song concludes the picture, suggesting that the fanciful story is a sort of song of the city. The young Ricardo Darín co-stars, and the singer Manuela Brava interprets a couple of songs from other genres. Both her and Fernández's recordings are plugged in the closing credits.
- DirectorJosé A. FerreyraStarsLibertad LamarqueFloren DelbenePerla MaryWhile studying in a Catholic boarding school, in the 1930s, young Luisa meets a boy, Julio, who talks to her from the street and through the fence. However, the arrogant older brother of the girl withdraws her from the establishment and takes her to live in the family mansion. The beginning of love between Luisa and Julio is even more difficult for what seems the beginning of a disease in her.Beautifully shot, written, and acted, "Ayudame a vivir" is a genuine classic. Its use of tango is innovative and diverse, from circumstantially credible singalong, to soundtrack ambiance, to social dance and show, to emotionally perfect bursts into song. In a proto-Borgesian moment, Libertad Lemarque sings along to a recording under her own name, but in the role of Luisa, a young woman whose desire is repressed by the strict regime of a Catholic school and her controlling brothers. Lemarque is credited with the story of what was a very popular film in its time and one of the best in its genre.
- DirectorZbigniew RybczynskiSubsequent characters appear in a poorly-decorated room, intertwining but never colliding, all possessed by never-ending rituals.An ingenious short in which repetitive and accumulating human activities in a small room take on the ebb and flow of a tango soundtrack.
- DirectorMaría Verónica RamírezStarsSimon RatzielThe heart and soul of Buenos Aires, seen through four stories penned by Argentina's four most prominent graphic artists.An anthology of four lively, intensely porteño, and often tango-soaked animated films.
- DirectorJana BokovaStarsGermán PalaciosSilkeInés EstévezA young man works in the port of Buenos Aires translating the love letters that prostitutes receive and seeks inspiration for his works in them."Diario para un cuento" adapts a story by Cortázar set in bohemian Buenos Aires of the early '50s. Tango is played and danced at the waterfront haunt of the protagonist, who resembles Cortázar and translates love letters between prostitutes and their maritime clients. He falls in love with one of them, acted with great delicacy by Silke. Rodolfo Mederos plays the bandeonista at the bar, and tango pervades the soundtrack and gives the film its ambiance.
- DirectorRaúl de la TorreStarsGraciela BorgesGian Maria VolontèPepe SorianoA group of musicians, prostitutes, gamblers, and laborers, react to the arrival of a tango pianist at a saloon.Graciela Borges plays Funes, an enigmatic tango pianist who joins an orquesta típica at a '40s tango club in Buenos Aires. The usual denizens populate the locale - gangsters, gamblers, prostitutes, rich kids, singers, and musicians. Borges' face is a blotter for the emotions of the music, and Funes becomes an emotional catalyst to everyone she comes in contact with. This is a tango person's film, with performances by the singers Susana Rinaldi and Jairo, the bandoneonista Daniel Binelli, dancers Juan Carlos Copes, María Nieves, Gustavo Naviera, Guillermina Quiroga, and others. The story is richly imagined and told in flashback, with the shape and import of a tragedy, which gives the presence of Spaghetti Western icon Gian Maria Volonté a special resonance. The film is intercut with scenes from a slaughterhouse, which is probably intended to add to the tragic effect but seems gratuitous; it is, as such, the film's only significant flaw.
- DirectorWolfram KampffmeyerStarsJudith SchlinkChristian HeckKalle, a thief who is just about to steel a valuable diamond is caught by the lonely Charlotte. Kalle tries to escape with his haul but Charlotte is not willing to let him go...A dejected wallflower finally gets her tango courtesy of a cat burgler.
- DirectorTatyana BronsteinStarsFernanda GhiAndrea HartnettDan MarshallThe obsession of a woman with Argentinian tango fashions a world where fantasy and remembrance impinge on reality. Facing a crisis of life and love, a woman holds tightly to the dance that weaves through the fabric of her life.A vignette in which a tango dancer (played by the notable Fernanda Ghi) reminisces about how she came to tango and rues the dashed reality of the present. North American tangueros will find truth and amusement in its incidents and portrayals.
- DirectorGeorge SchnéevoigtStarsElse SkouboeElith PioAase ZieglerThe "Tango Bar" is the fashion of the moment. The city's party-goers have chosen the small, cozy, intimate local venue for the night's wee hours. Gaby Grant is an ideal hostess who knows how to get guests to forget the day's sorrows and troubles - and knows how to get them to pay.A German film made in the same year as the identically named Argentine classic. I've seen it described as a café tragedy. It seems to be unavailable to watch.
- DirectorMaría Teresa CostantiniStarsMercedes FunesDamián de SantoEsther GorisA portrait of the life of famous Argentinian singer and actress Tita Merello.Mercedes Funes is remarkably convincing as Tita Merella in this elegant biopic of the great tango singer and film star.
- DirectorJosé A. FerreyraStarsLibertad LamarqueFloren DelbeneCarlos PerelliA young and beautiful singer (Libertad Lamarque), leave Buenos Aires after her fiancée (Floren Delbene) supposedly betrays her. In her new job as a singer in a small town, a rancher falls in love with her "bewitching kisses" and abducts her, taking her to his cabin in the Jungle. Meanwhile, her boyfriend hasn't forgot his love and starts the search.Tango is not the theme of "Besos brujos" but is the dominant song genre (first staged and then burst into periodically by Libertad Lemarque) of this socially outdated romangtic comedy about a singer who leaves her fiancé only to be abducted by an admirer and held in a backwoods hovel.
- DirectorEduardo MoreraStarsAda FalconOlinda BozánIgnacio CorsiniThere is little actual tango in this loosely plotted early movie about a radio talent competition, but it is the main strand; with Ada Falcon and music by Francisco Canaro.
- DirectorEnrique Cahen SalaberryStarsHugo del CarrilSusana CamposSimonetteThe hidden pleasures of a couple, spied on by servitude.A lush color remake of Gardel's "El día que me quieras" as '60s period melodrama. Hugo del Carril, always a strong actor, has aged well as a singer, his mature voice rich with experience. Tito Lusiardo, who was in the original, outdoes himself in a must-see dance early in the film. Remaking a classic is an inherently questionable enterprise, but this one succeeds on its own terms and virtues.
- DirectorLuis César AmadoriStarsLibertad LamarqueRoberto AiraldiMiguel Gómez BaoA young woman travels with her uncle to the city, where she works with a singer whom she must replace. She later goes blind.Tango is lightly present in this showbiz melodrama, but it culminates with Libertad Lemarque singing "Caminito," which is said to have inspired the film. It, in turn, inspired "Mi ultimo tango," a 1960 remake with Sara Montiel.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsBenoît MagimelLaura SmetAurore ClémentA hard-working young man meets and falls in love with his sister's bridesmaid. He soon finds out how disturbed she really is.On the second floor of the mansion of the hero's mysterious lover, a couple practices Argentine tango whenever he passes them on the stair, a motif of menace from a French genius of suspense.
- DirectorRodolfo PagliereStarsIsidoro ChiodiOsvaldo del PinoAlejandro DolinaIn a parallel universe two great Argentinian icons, Carlos Gardel & Diego Maradona have the chance of a million to meet face to face.Popular heroes who die young become immortal, forever fixed in the imagination at the height of their fame, with no memory of aging or decline. "The Day Maradona Met Gardel" makes it literal: Gardel is trapped by a supernatural bargain made with an alluring spirit into singing his songs to her forever. A guardian angel and a skeptical broadcast journalist set out to free him, bringing the futbol star Maradona into the mission, thus allowing for a light meditation on heroism and its illusions. The presence of ghosts and other surreal or magic realist touches is common in tango and other Argentine films in the first post dictatorial decades.
- DirectorBéla TarrStarsMihály VigPutyi HorváthLászló feLugossyOn the eve of a large payment, residents of a collapsing collective farm see their plans turn into desolation when they discover that Irimiás, a former co-worker who they thought was dead, is returning to the community.This is not a tango film in the usual sense, and it is certainly not Argentine, but tango runs in its blood. The film structure is based on that of a six-count tango and there are three tango suites. The "Sátántangó" dance and music sequence is as devasting as the name implies.
- DirectorYuri NorsteinStarsAleksandr KalyaginDistant, well-worn memories of childhood are inhabited by a little gray wolf. Through astonishing imagery, the memory of all of Russia is depicted.Tango music and couples dancing is a recurrent motif amid the Symbolist imagery, folkloric figures, and evocations of war in this plaintive Russian animation.
- DirectorEdmo CominettiStarsCarlos DuxFelipe FarahNedda FrancyIn a middle class family in Buenos Aires, a conflict arises between their two sons. One is a carefree playboy who spends his nights on cabarets. The other, a promising engineer who is the pride of the family.Two brothers, one a respectable engineering bring hydroelectric power to rural Argentina, the other a dissolute frequenter of cabarets where you know what is danced. A fascinating silent film whose techniques are both conventionally narrative and surreal, shades of Man Ray and Buñuel.
- DirectorGabriel BolognaStarsLainie KazanRenée TaylorJoseph BolognaA Tango dancer and a rabbi develop a plan to enter a dance competition without sacrificing his orthodox beliefs. Family, tolerance, and community are tested one dazzling dance step at a time.This film transforms a common tango exercise in which partners dance with a balloon in between so as to practice maintaining a connection into a seemingly novel solution to a problem: how does a devout Hasidic enter a dance competition with a woman he is not allowed to touch?
- DirectorGoran PaskaljevicStarsMija AleksicPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicNikola ZarkovicA boy who is helping lonely, elderly people revives their urge to live and receives in return their love and understanding, which have been denied to him by his parents.This doesn't seem to be available to watch.
- DirectorAleksandr PolynnikovStarsLidiya DorotenkoAndrey GradovAnna NazarevaSeemingly unavailable.
- DirectorMika KaurismäkiStarsCecilia PilladoThe story of a female concert pianist passionate for tango music, who is challenged to face the tough destiny of a tragedy. A tale triumph, passion, joy, suffering and love of music.In pre-production. I'll be interested in the overlap between the Argentine and Finnish tango cultures.