Friday Film Fest: Dance Me To The End of Love. . .

It's February, it's cold and Valentine's Day is coming.  Ignore all the mushy stuff and immerse yourself in this hot duo instead.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Lloyd Jones' novel Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance as it triggered an immediate interest in everything to do with the tango.  It mixes a contemporary love story with one set during the First World War, and not only does this fiery dance feature in both tales, but Jones manages to convey a real sense of the changing history of the tango and how, for example, jazz influenced the traditional music, not without some controversy. And these are very unconventional partnerships, brought together by a love of the dance. I immediately went out and bought several CDs by musicians mentioned in the novel, loaded them onto my iPOD and it's now my favourite music to listen to during wintry commutes. For a complete seductively visual feast, you must rent Carlos Saura's 1998 film Tango.  (You can watch the trailer here. ) It's the story of a director trying to make a film about the history of tango but as with many of Saura's films, reality and illusion often get mixed up. The music and dancing is just superb and showcases all sorts of tangos, done in groups, in trios, with different gender mixes, and of course very sensual duets. Red wine would be a good accompaniment. Beats a corny American rom-com any day.