Tango Film Club
2009 April 19
I was planning to write a separate post for each of those, but I never seem to find the time… The recent posts by tangocommuter prompted me to write up this list of my favorite tango films. I never was all that interestesd in instructional videos, but films about the culture I find fascinating. In our small community we arranged public showings in an informal tango film club to make these gems available to the rest of the community. Not very many showed up, but it was a small and enthusiastic regular crowd. So here is the list, with links to where to get them.
See it, and see it again!
Maestro J. Dispari on Tango: bayle nuestro
Documentaries (mostly) about dancing
- Tango: bayle nuestro (Great milongueros dancing footage)
- Tango the obsession (Milongueros dancing footage)
- Un giro extraño
- El confitería Ideal (BBC documentary, not available commercially, see earlier post)
Documentaries mostly about music
- El ultimo bandoneón
- Si sos brujo
- Café de los maestros
- Canyengue (see earlier post)
- Capos del tango: Juan D’Arienzo
- Capos del tango: Aníbal Troilo
Feature films
- Tango bar (Great milongueros dancing footage)
- Carlos Saura’s Tango (“remake” of Tango bar, quoting Mercado de Abasto)
- Tango lesson
- Assassination tango
Classic references
- Four horsemen of the apocalypse (1922, featuring Rudolph Valentino)
- Tango (1933) (legendary footage of El Cachafaz dancing)
- Mercado de Abasto (1955)
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For those who can wait to purchase DVDs in Buenos Aires, these are the prices in pesos at Musimundo music stores all over the city. I found all of them at the store on Santa Fe near Callao.
Cafe de los Maestros – 39.90
El Ultimo Bandoneon – 24.90
Si sos brujo (story of the Orquesta Escuela del Tango) – 19.90
Si sos brujo + Tango: A strange turn – 29.90
Another Way: Tango with Rodolfo Mederos – 44.90
Los Capos de Tango: D’Arienzo and Troilo – 19.90 each
Thanks! I got quite a few of those in Bs As myself
Can’t wait to get back..
Is Surrender Tango by Marcia Rock (NYC) on your list?
No, is it any good?
You can view a trailer of Surrender Tango on YouTube.
There is no end to the tango films that are being made. Actor Willem Dafoe was in Buenos Aires last month filming tango scenes for his next film directed by his wife. A photo of them appeared in the June/July issue of B.A. Tango.
The site 10tango.com mentions that Alberto Podesta (85) will play the leading role in “El Cantor de Tango.” I found details at http://www.cinenacional.com/peliculas/index.php?pelicula=3637
Well — you see that is why I asked, gringos and stage dancers, doesn’t seem that interesting to me. There is a lot out there, the question is: what is worth spending time on?
Thanks for the film list! It was inspiartion while I was compiling our list of tango noteworthy films, with the intention of screening some of them here in Nairobi… see our Tango Films list at: http://www.patamango.com/tango-films
Some confusion I think regarding the the note on Saura’s “Tango” – that it is a “remake” of Tango Bar… I believe that this would be referring to a different Tango Bar than the one listed here… TangoCD is the only site I found this title on: http://www.tangocd.com/Tango_Music/prodView.asp?idproduct=1076
@Nairobi: Thanks. Yes, the one I loosely refer to as remade is the 1988 Tango Bar, not the one with Gardel. It seems to be stillavailable on Amazon, follow the link on this page.