Coming to theatres today, Friday, April 15: OUR LAST TANGO
German Kral’s chronicle of the fiery relationship between Argentine dance pioneers made its bow at Toronto last Fall. The film has gone on to screen at Miami, Cleveland, Stockholm, San Diego Latino, Sarasota, the Film Society’s Dance on Film, and Minneapolis/St Paul, among other events.
Credited with popularizing the tango beyond its origins in Argentina’s nightlife and taking it to the international stage, María Nieves Rego and Juan Carlos Copes reflect on long lives which match the tempestuous nature of their dance. Meeting as teenagers, as recreated here by young dancers who are coached by the now octogenarians they are portraying, Nieves Rego and Copes became partners in life and in dance for half a century. Even after they divorced in 1976, following an extramarital affair by Copes, the pair remained tango partners for two more decades before an acrimonious final split that has left them unwilling to communicate for twenty years. Kral expertly plays off this tension, revealing their complicated relationship through separate contemporary interviews, fantastic archival footage, and stylized re-enactments that accentuate the theatricality of the tango.
what (not) to doc 