Tango Bar - A review by Graeme Clark

Tango Bar: Review by Graeme Clark

Filmed in (date) Tango Bar was on the whole interesting and even entertaining to me in several ways. The film definitely doesn't have any spectacular tango performances by modern Argentinean standards, but it does provide a look at the history, or at least the folk history of the tango.

The introductory credits of the movie prepare you pretty well for what your about to see. We see a couple dancing (passionately) and then all of a sudden the lead rips of his companions skirt revealing her slip. Why, we don't know, but it makes his follower feel sad all of a sudden and she runs away for a little while. Her lead goes over to comfort her and apparently she feels better so they continue dancing again till the start of the movie. This actually reminds me of a real life event strangely enough...

The next interesting thing that I noticed was that the main actor looked a lot like Gomez from the Adams Family. Later I learned that he actually was Gomez, actor () which really blew my mind for some reason, especially since he looked exactly the same as in the TV series and smoked the same cigars. Gomez gives the movie a plot, and it goes something like this: He played bandoneon and his friend played piano and his friends girlfriend sang at the restaurant Tango Bar. His friend went to the USA because of political problems in Argentina but now he is back and Gomez stole his friends girlfriend somewhere along the line. The situation doesn't cause much conflict, it mostly just helps set up the tango walk down memory lane.

The first dance scene is tango meets Broadway, and it makes you wonder if the arm extended rose-in-mouth sideways-walking tango stereotype didn't come from this very movie. Presenting a history of tango, other dance scenes include the barrio on the outskirts of town, tango in the brothels and the adaptation to high society. The most interesting part for me, however, was when they showed the adaptations of tango to the movie industry. Actual clips from the period were used some of the quite fascinating for their humor and extravagance.

The movie ends with Gomez and his buddy parting ways I believe, I don't remember exactly. In conclusion, I found the movie equally strange and interesting and don't regret having seen it.

E Tango Querétaro

Esta página esta mantenida por Graeme Clark como representante de La Asociación de Tango de México en el estado de Querétaro. Checa la página de Tango México en tangomexico.com para mayor información de tango en México. Para más información sobre clases o prácticas en Querétaro o para hacer comentarios respecto a esta página manda un email a Graeme a tangwero@hotmail.com.