Upside Down Tango

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upside_Down_(2012_film)

Frank Scheck found the film confusing, saying, "You practically need an advanced degree in physics to fully comprehend the convoluted physical machinations depicted in Upside Down, Juan Solanas' dizzyingly loopy sci-fi romance. Depicting the Romeo and Juliet-style romance between lovers from twin planets with opposite gravitational pulls, this head-scratcher boasts visual imagination to spare even as its logistical complexities and heavy-handed symbolism ultimately prove off-putting."

Tango Animation Not :: A Evaristo Carriego (a compendium)

Nice animation, but not tango. The song is "A Evaristo Carriego", an instrumental by composer Eduardo Rovira, dedicated to the Argentine "Arrabalero" poet, who was born in 1883 and died in 1912. His wiki page says that his poetry influenced tango lyrics over the years. Pugliese first arranged and recorded it in 1969, and if you look it up on iTunes, there are three dozen or so nuevo orquestras who have covered/recorded it. I'm sure there are tons of results on YouTube. Avail thyself. Keep scrolling. Tons more info below the titular video.

Nice song.



From the I Like Tango YouTube video: "A EVARISTO CARRIEGO", Tango composed by EDUARDO OSCAR ROVIRA (1925-1980) La Orquesta de Tango de FOREVER TANGO estaba formada por once músicos argentinos: 4 bandoneones (liderados por Víctor Lavallén), 2 violines, viola, violonchelo, contrabajo, teclado y piano (Fernando Marzán).



Here's an (audio only) version with Pugliese and Piazzolla supposedly playing live in Amsterdam in 1989.



Here they are, Pugliese and Piazzolla, live in Amsterdam (1989), in some crude footage performing"La Yumba" and Piazzolla's "Adios Nonino", with a very big orquestra. Pugliese died just over six years after this, in July of 1995.



Here's Pugliese and his orquestra performing live at Teatro Colon in BsAs in December of 1985.




And here are Carlos Gavito and Marcella Duran peforming to "A Evaristo Carriego" at the Boston Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops and the Forever Tango Orquestra in 1998. What self=respecting tango afficionado hasn't watched this one a few times? Marcella Duran. Sheesh, man.




This appears to be the 1969 version, on YouTube. I can't seem to find this version anywhere - to purchase.



Here's "La Calle Junto La Luna", an Argentine romantic drama from 1951 - about the life of poet Evaristo Carriego...

Sinopsis: La vida del célebre poeta del barrio de Palermo: Evaristo Carriego, interpretado magistralmente por Narciso Ibáñez Menta. Una estampa única del Buenos Aires a comienzos del siglo XX, la lucha de un poeta del suburbio de entonces que pintó como nadie las simplezas y dolores de la gente. Un film para volver a revivir y comprender la historia de un Buenos Aires intelectual y el desarrollo de su música popular. En la fotografía vemos a la pareja estelar de la película: Diana Ingro y Narciso Ibáñez Menta




Then there's this from the TodoTango website:

Evaristo Carriego, un poeta arrabalero

rasladada su familia a Buenos Aires, vivió en la calle Honduras N° 84 (hoy 3784), del barrio de Palermo. Desde muy joven frecuentó las tertulias literarias porteñas, en las que gravitaban Rubén Darío y Almafuerte.

Escribió en diversas publicaciones de la época, como La Protesta, Papel y Tinta, Caras y Caretas, y otras. En ellas dio a conocer también sus poesías y cuentos breves. Publicó su primer libro de poemas, Misas herejes, en 1908 y su restante obra poética fue publicada después de su muerte con el título La canción del barrio.

Carriego fue quien descubrió las posibilidades líricas del arrabal y de los arquetipos que constituirán su mitología personal y porteña, en la que destacan los guapos, los cafés, el barrio y los vecinos, con sus tristezas y sus alegrías, pintándonos toda una época, una geografía, un sentir humano. Obra que ha sido decisiva para la poesía porteñista posterior y para las letras de tango.

Murió a causa de una peritonitis apendicular, según consta en certificado firmado por el Dr. Pedro Galli. Tenía 29 años. Fue el «poeta del suburbio», el «poeta de los humildes», el «poeta de Palermo».

El 7 de mayo de 1975 se fundó la Asociación Amigos de la Casa de Evaristo Carriego, que presidió el pintor palermitano José María Mieravilla, a quien se debe, en gran parte, la conservación de dicha casa. Fue Presidente Honorario de esa entidad, a la que tuve el honor de pertenecer, el escritor Jorge Luis Borges.

Google Translation:

Evaristo Carriego, an arrabalero poet

Rasladada?? his family to Buenos Aires, he lived in Calle Honduras N ° 84 (today 3784), in the neighborhood of Palermo. From very young frequented the literary gatherings Porteñas, which gravitated Ruben Dario and Almafuerte.

He wrote in various publications of the time, such as protest, paper and ink, faces and masks, and others. In them he also announced his poems and short stories. It published its first book of poems, Masses heretics, in 1908 and its remaining poetic work was published after its death with the title The song of the quarter.

Riego was the one who discovered the lyrical possibilities of the suburbs and the archetypes that will constitute their personal and porteño mythology, in which the handsome, the cafes, the neighborhood and the neighbors stand out, with their sadness and their joys, pintándonos a whole period, a Geography, a human feeling. Work that has been decisive for the poetry porteñista posterior and for the lyrics of tango.

He died because of a appendicular peritonitis, according to a certificate signed by Dr. Pedro Galli. I was 29 years old. It was the "poet of the suburb", the «poet of the humble», the «Poet of Palermo».

On May 7, 1975 the association was founded friends of the House of Evaristo Riego, which was chaired by the painter Palermitano José María Mieravilla, who is due in large part to the conservation of the house. He was honorary president of that entity, to which I had the honor of belonging, the writer Jorge Luis Borges.


Here's a search on his poetry.

And lastly, this, on Scribd, which appears to be a pretty comprehensive collection of his poems, in Spanish (232pp).






I think this fucking post took me two hours to put together...(grin)

Oldie but Goodie Tango Film

Anyone know any of the details behind this video, uh film clip, rather? Besides the fact that it stars Tobey McGuire's grandfather (right in the beginning)?

Een kijkje in het verleden. De Tango van toen!

Posted by Centaur Cheiron Salon on Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Fermín, glorias del tango | A new film | DVD & Rental Available

A new film from Hernan Findling and Oliver Kolker...

DVD now available: http://www.funcionaykuenta.com/#!shop/c10m8

Link to Vimeo for 24 hour rental:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fermin


Trailer:


Interview with Oliver re: Kickstarter campaign:



Interview with Oliver, en Espanol:





www.ferminlapelicula.com


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3377374/


Fermin is set primarily in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fermin Tundera (Hector Alterio) is an 85 year-old patient at a typical "third-world" public hospital being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. It has been decades since Fermin was committed to the institution yet his condition has not improved. Ezequiel Kaufman (Gaston Pauls) is a 33 year-old psychiatrist who comes on the scene to treat the difficult patient and discovers that he is only able to communicate by using the cryptic lyrics of Tango, a peculiar characteristic indeed.

We witness a wonderful doctor / patient relationship develop as we are periodically taken back in time to Fermin's younger years as one of the most popular tango dancers in 1940s Buenos Aires. In an effort to better understand his patient, the young ambitious doctor finds himself immersed in the tango world. Not only does Ezequiel find passion in this beautiful dance but also finds love when he meets Fermin's beautiful grandaughter, Eva (Antonella Costa), herself a popular tango dancer.

Fermin's condition steadily improves as we ultimately learn the reason for his peculiar illness.

Click to enlarge photo:

Iraqi Tango

IRAQI TANGO - Trailer from STORJA PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

The story of the paralleling lives of a war traumatized marine and an upscale Argentinian prostitute whose worlds collide in the underground network of sex trafficking.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3298318/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Milongueros - thanks Nina P...!

I have never seen the film "Tango Bar" with Raul Julia...I see that it's available in its full length on YouTube...




However, I would offer this version of La Cumparsita as an alternative sound track...



Or this one, for a little more energy...love the staccato piano and violin picking in this version...when I used to DJ, I would usually play two or three versions of La Cumparsita as the last song...chosen from the 40 or so versions I've collected over the years...

Frida Tango

Here are Salma Hayek and Ashley Judd dancing "tango" in the film Frida. The choreography is very loosely based on tango...it's a pretty sexy same-sex "tango" scene.

Tango in Tango

Here's a tango scene, one of the many I'm sure, from Carlos Saura's film "Tango" from 1998. My copy is broken. The director's narrative is the only audio I can get on it. So, I don't think I've ever watched the entire film.

I've included the tag/label "tango in feature length films", which "Tango" was, but not very widely distributed.

Disaster Tango from "Love and Other Disasters"

This is a good example of why Argentine tango has to fight so hard against the stereotypes and clichés running rampant in today's culture.

I can't wait for the day that a producer/director has the balls to include a tango scene with milonguero/close embrace tango. Hell, maybe there already is one...?

Tango with the Flintstones :: The Mis-use of Tradition

I watched this the other day, somewhere. I can't remember who to credit for the find - a Facebook friend, or perhaps another blogger. It's a miracle I was able to find it again. My brain apparently isn't functioning as poorly as sometimes I would like to think.

This YouTube clip appears to be a segment from the 1988 movie "Tango Bar" (which I haven't yet seen) with Raul Julia, showing tango scenes from several films, etc. It includes Rudolph Valentino in "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", Fred Flintstone dancing with Wilma's mother I think, Charlie Chaplin dancing a tango parody, Laurel and Hardy dancing a tango in the Old West, and finally, I think that's a young Gene Kelly gallivanting around the way he does.

Ever since I read "Tango, The Art History of Love" by Robert Farris Thompson, I am always struck by how tango is caricatured and.or generally made fun of in film, especially in early films. Newer, truer versions of Argentine tango are being seen these days. Sally Potter's "The Tango Lesson". Robert Duvall's "Assassination Tango". Adam Boucher's "Tango, the Obsession". Carlos Saura's "Tango, no me dejes nunca".

It is because of this that my interest in Sandra Bullock's "Kiss and Tango" (the film) is piqued. Take a bad book and inject it with the Hollywood formula and you are very likely to end up with yet another stereotypical maltreatment of Argentine Tango, once again pervading our cultural misconceptions about Tango.

Oh well. It is what it is. All we can do is hope for the best from Ms. Bullock. That is, if the film is ever made.

Here is a great excerpt from Thompson's book -- where he discusses the film "Last Tango in Paris" starring Marlon Brando:

The misuse of tradition intensified in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" (1972). Forget, if possible, the auteur's ambition to blur art into pornography and vend it as a revolution, with a world-class actor, Brando, securing the way. Forget the breakthrough promiscuities that Bertolucci has Brando commit with a smashing ingenue, Maria Schneider. Forget, as well, expectations aroused by the strange, sensual tango danced by Stefania Sandrelli and Dominique Sanda in Bertolucci's earlier film "The Conformist" (1970). Forget if you can, all of that and cut to a long, famous scene:

Interior: bar, dancing; day
Jeane is hiding behind dark glasses. Behind them in the room there is a small tango contest. The jury, in front of a long table, follow with their eyes the couples dancing with numbers on their backs.
PAUL [BRANDO]: You know the tango is a rite...And you must watch the legs of the dancers.

So far so good. Norman Mailer loved it: "[a] near mythical species of tango palace." And the setting *is* beautiful. Vittorio Storaro's camera distills a golden light in colonnaded spaces, a light that illumines intent, moving couples. Gato Barbieri wrote the score. In sum, we savor a tango nirvana.

But not for long. Bertolucci was out to *use* the tango, not to reveal it--to use its fame and its glamour, together with Brando's, to power a dark vision.

He causes the camera to glide like a serpent through the tango contestants, transforming their Eden into hell. Pauline Kael declared the women "bitch-chic mannequin dancers." Somewhere a compliment to their integrity lies buried in that. To Kael the dancers were "automatons," posing with "wildly fake head-turns."

Bertolucci--and his critics--had misunderstood tango hauteur, which, as the gifted Julie Taylor reminds us, consists of the following: "dancers demonstrate their skill by perform[ing] like somber automatons, providing [themselves with] psychic space." The root of all this is black cool. But by 1972 the Afro-Argentine shaping of the frozen face in tango had long since been forgotten, even amongst most tangueros.

Bertolucci, in any event, definitely reduced dancers to mannequins. He turned ritual into farce. It gets worse:

PRESIDENT OF THE TANGO JURY: Now gentlemen, ladies, all best wishes for the last tango!

Note the last phrase. For some this suggested the end of the tango as a world-class tradition. As if to rub that interpretation in, Brando drunkenly sashays his way across the dance hall, mocking the seriousness of the contestants, mocking their moves, mocking their reason for being. He makes fun of their posture. He falls flat on his back, like a spread-eagled ape.

Then Schneider tells Brando she's leaving him. He chases her, corners her. She pulls out a pistol. She kills him. End of tango.

Critics rose to Bertolucci's faux-revolutionary bait. Pauline Kael pronounced "Last Tango" equal to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring"--not the best call for someone whose judgements were normally brilliant. Another critic went so far as to denounce the tango judge, as if she were personally responsible for the Vietnam War. It was dangerous to be decent in the 1970s.

Norman Mailer, alone among critics, felt uneasy: "Did [Brando's] defacement of the tango," he asked, "injure some final nerve of...deportment."

It did. The damage was not virtual--it was real. Copes remembers, "Last Tango was the climax of films that ridiculed tango." People the world over got the impression in the 1970s that tango was "antiquated and comic." Recalling Wittgenstein's famous axiom "The meaning of a symbol is its use," tango had been defined, unfairly, by mis-use.

The mis-use of the symbol of tango. The mis-use of tradition. Now that's something to ponder. Something to worry about? Probably not. Even given the huge tango stereotypes in our culture today, the myth of tango is alive and well. Beautiful, mysterious, sensual, difficult (but within the reach of the average Dick and Jane) --our amazing dance is indeed alive, and well. Real, connected, alive tango. Not mythic at all.

Tango in Film :: Random Hearts :: Adultery by Tango

Sydney Pollack's 1999 film "Random Hearts" starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas has a tango component that I didn't recall from the first time I saw it. The movie was on the tube upstairs and then I heard tango music, so naturally I had to run up and see. The two characters' spouses were having an affair with each other and died together in a plane crash.

In the course of trying to figure out how long it had been going on and what they were up to, the two surviving spouses figured out that the two lovers were traveling to Miami on a regular basis to dance tango. The scene showed a public outdoor milonga with good/normal social dancing. This is one of the best portrayals in film I have seen, as a matter of fact. The only issue is the context in which it was presented - two adulterous lovers stealing away to secretly dance steamy, sultry, sensual, sexy Argentine tango in each other's arms.

Good, but not great, as far as the sociological portrayal of tango to the masses.

It also makes me wonder how many people out there in the world might be dancing tango unbeknownst to their spouse. Adultery by tango?

Tango in Film :: Tango Music in Film

Since you have started dancing tango, do you notice tango music in film a lot more? Sure, there is the whole topic of tango the dance in film, but there is also a lot of tango music in film that has no dance featured at all. Granted, most of the music is what we call Nuevo

Case in point, the Sundance Channel was just playing upstairs, and I heard some Piazzolla come on. I ran upstairs to check it out and the credits were running. At first I thought is was "Adiós Nonino", but a quick look on IMDB.com tells me it's "Oblivion".

The film was "La Meglio Gioventù" or "The Best of Youth". I wasn't watching it - cooking dinner and being domestic. I may NetFlix it - it looks like it might be good.

Anyway, I just find it interesting that filmmakers are using tango music more and more in their soundtracks. I would love to hear any others that you know of - by all means leave a comment.