Editor’s Notes: Our Last Tango opens in Toronto December 25th at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.
Our Last Tango, a documentary directed by the Argentinian chronicling the career of María Nieves Rego and Juan Carlos Copes, two of the world’s most famous dancers in tango history. Further, director German Kral delves into the romantic relationship between the dancers, and the ways in which this shaped their dancing careers. Our Last Tango’s greatest strength is in its unconventional style of storytelling, which includes a fictitious, re-enacted account of the dancers state in their prime. Yet, there’s something that feels incomplete about the entire experience – there’s no sympathetic connection to the characters, and while the storytelling is interesting, it tends to lose focus easily, delving into aspects of characterization that deter from the central area of interest to its viewers.
Our Last Tango’s greatest strength is in its unconventional style of storytelling, which includes a fictitious, re-enacted account of the dancers state in their prime.
Without a doubt, the story of Rego and Copes is quite interesting. They are interesting people, with interesting stories to tell. But, what’s inherently important with crafting a documentary is selecting the most interesting stories to tell, something that great documentarians are aware and sensitive to. Though it’s not completely absent from Our Last Tango, Kral doesn’t exercise his ability to separate and choose what stories he wants to tell, and instead, attempts to provide an all-encompassing account of their careers and personal lives, but it proves to be overwhelming as the film progresses.
Though there are problems with Our Last Tango, it reinvigorates its stories with a re-enactment of old story, something that isn’t seen often in documentaries. This, by far, is the most impressive part of the film. It’s nice to be able to visualize stories that are being told, especially for someone who isn’t particularly educated when it comes to the tango. But, with all its cons, Our Last Tango doesn’t prove to be engaging enough, and doesn’t prove to interact with its audience enough through its analysis of its subjects to be labeled as a film worth seeing.
Kral doesn’t exercise his ability to separate and choose what stories he wants to tell, and instead, attempts to provide an all-encompassing account of their careers and personal lives, but it proves to be overwhelming as the film progresses.
Rego and Copes are two very interesting individuals, and are deserving of a documentary. Disappointingly, Kral doesn’t do them justice with Our Last Tango, as he attempts to focus on too much, in such a short, limited runtime. Overall, an individual must be initially very invested in these subjects to be invested in this documentary. But, if you’re like me, and hadn’t heard of the subjects beforehand, Kral doesn’t little in the way of actually providing the audience with proper insight and depth of assessment his subjects deserve. Instead, Our Last Tango is muddled by its vagueness, and though it has some redeeming qualities, ultimately falls short of achieving what it set out to do: to provide a righteous, fitting outlook on the lives of two fascinating individuals.
Our Last Tango is muddled by its vagueness, and though it has some redeeming qualities, ultimately falls short of achieving what it set out to do: to provide a righteous, fitting outlook on the lives of two fascinating individuals.
