Dancing, Spirit of Argentina Smolder in Seductive ‘Tango’

“Tango” is a bold, seductive attempt to probe the very soul of the distinctive, sensual Argentine music, song and dance that has been world-renowned since Rudolph Valentino stepped onto a cabaret floor nearly 80 years ago in “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

Thanks to that archetypal screen Latin lover, the tango is forever associated with the heady 1920s, but in Argentina it remains a vital and contemporary expression of the country’s spirit.

To capture the timeless power of this elegant and romantic art, Spain’s celebrated veteran director Carlos Saura enlisted two collaborators as distinguished as himself--Buenos Aires-born composer Lalo Schifrin and Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. Saura could not have chosen better, and the result is a smoky, lush blend of muted light and color, of intoxicating dance and the richest tango music you could ever imagine. Schifrin incorporates tango standards with his own compositions performed with traditional tango instruments, augmented at appropriate moments with a full orchestra.

Saura has proceeded with a slender plot, designed to string together the dance sequences without overwhelming it. A handsome, middle-aged director, Mario Suarez (Miguel Angel Sola), whose beautiful wife Laura (Cecilia Narova) has left him for another man, is planning a tango film. As dawn breaks over Buenos Aires, his wife has slipped into their high-rise apartment to retrieve a necklace only to provoke a bitter fight and breakup.

Devastated, Suarez decides to drown himself in his work and sets up temporary living quarters at the movie studio where he and his colleagues are devising their film on a vast sound stage with an array of simple scrims surrounding them. In commencing the staging of the film’s numbers, he notices a young dancer, Elena (Mia Maestro) of exceptional beauty and talent. She is the mistress of Suarez’s underworld backer, but that’s not going to stop the inevitable romance between director and star.

The basic, highly formal steps and movements of the tango allow for amazing complexity and range. We automatically think of the tango as a mating dance, an intricate, fiercely proud and smoldering display of the interplay of nostril-flaring machismo and a temptress femininity. Its graceful, stylized moves are actually appropriate for all ages, with older dancers capable of formidable displays of disciplined finesse.

Yet “Tango” goes way beyond expressions of sexual attraction and movement for its own sake to stage a stunning Goya-inspired ballet protesting the fate of the desparecidos, the vanished victims of Argentina’s former brutal military rule, and the regime’s widespread use of torture. Another set piece celebrates the arrival of immigrants to Argentina, who brought the ingredients of tango with them.

By and large “Tango” is a mesmerizing experience, though at times its sheer seductiveness can be lulling. As in “Flamenco,” Saura again expands the limits of dance on film, but “Tango” might have even more impact if it were somewhat shorter than its near two-hour running time.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for sensuality, some disturbing images, brief language. Times guidelines: suitable for all ages except the very young.

‘Tango’

Miguel Angel Sola: Mario Suarez

Cecilia Narova: Laura Fuentes

Mia Maestro: Elena Flores

A Sony Pictures Classics release. Writer-director Carlos Saura. Producers Luis A. Scalella, Carlos A. Mentasti, Juan Codazzi. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. Music Lalo Schifrin. Musical consultant Oscar Cardozo Ocampo. Choreographers Juan Carlos Copes, Ana Maria Steckelman, Carlos Rivarola. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes.

Exclusively at the Sunset 5 for a one-week Oscar qualifying run, 8000 Sunset Blvd., (323) 848-3500.