Tanghi argentini (2006)

Director:

Guy Thys

Writer:

Geert Verbanck (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Plot:

An office clerk with a hankering to tango enlists the support of a workplace colleague as he prepares for a date. It's Christmas time and the concept of giving assumes fairy tale proportions in this beguiling modern story.

Plot Keywords:

Tango | Office | Christmas | Dance | Colleague

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 22 wins

Cast

Dirk van Dijck	...	André
Koen van Impe	...	Frans
Wannes Cappelle	...	Patrick
Ineke Nijssen	...	Gaby
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hilde Norga	...	Suzanne
Mathias Sercu	...	Elves

Runtime:

Belgium:14 min

Country:

Belgium

Language:

Dutch

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Belgium:KT

Company:

Another Dimension of an Idea

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

A Totally Satisfying Short

I caught this on You Tube only because I'm a tango nut and I'm grateful I did. What a fabulous little film! What an amazingly wonderful quarter of an hour!

Sly, charming, witty, elegant, uplifting: the film totally blew me away. I've watched -- and been sorely disappointed by -- a lot of shorts over the past few months (not that there aren't superb ones out there as well). "Tanghi Argentini" not only restored my faith after a run of poor ones, but ranked right near the top of the Best of the Best.

Both its writing and the directing are terrific. The story is beautifully developed, and loaded with surprises. It toys with our internalization of tropes developed not only by Sally Potter and Masayuki Suo but television, then turns most of them on their heads.

The mise-en-scene betrays no suggestion of a tight budget and the film is very cleverly shot, making the best of some rather close quarters. The editing is appropriately crisp and the film bustles along. The cast is exceptional.

I pray that "Tanghi Argentini" makes it to a decent DVD collection so that many others can see it.