Mere words cannot fully express how much I enjoyed watching Our Last Tango, a brilliant documentary written and directed by German Kral (Musica Cubana). This unique film focuses on Maria Nieves and Juan Carlos Copes, the famous Argentina tango dancers who met as teenagers and danced together for nearly 50 years, then faced a painful separation. Perhaps poetry will help.

Seduction breathes inside this dance.

Sometimes it leads to great romance.

Our Last Tango shows how two lives

become entwined and what survives.

A tango pair beyond compare

in passion and with fiery flair

dance together for many years

before their love just disappears.

And if they part, what happens then?

Can tango bring them back again?

Love for each other may be gone

but tango passion still lives on!

The film itself casts quite a spell.

Everything is done so well:

electrifying tango scenes,

the real couple and all their dreams.

Here’s hoping that you get to see

Our Last Tango. It’s tops with me.  

Both Maria and Juan appear as themselves here and share their candid reactions to the events of their romance, marriage, separation and remarkable tango career. Excellent younger actors play the famous dancers in scenes depicting their earlier years. Plus, the fascinating story is interspersed with exciting, sensual tango dancing that left me breathless. But I have to admit my favorite dance from this movie is the delightful Singin’ in the Rain homage number, which may not sit well with tango purists.

In the interest of full disclosure, I know how powerful dance can be in a person’s life. This art form has always been very important to me. And I absolutely love films with dance sequences, so it’s no surprise that Our Last Tango won me over completely.    

Besides its emphasis on love/hate and dance, Our Last Tango offers  special insight into the power of obsession, the ups and downs of a relationship, the genius temperament, and the problems of aging.    

What a treat to see such a creative and artistic documentary!

The music arouses and torments. Tango is the coupling of two people defenseless against the world and powerless to change things. --- Juan Carlos Copes

On the radio when I was a child, when I heard a tango tune I seized a little broom and started to walk to the beat of it. --- Maria Nieves

Warning: tango contains highly addictive ingredients, such as pain, pleasure, passion, excitement, freedom, torment and bliss. In seven out of ten cases it takes over a person’s life. --- Naomi Hotta

(Released by Strand Releasing; not rated by MPAA.)

For more information about Our Last Tango, go to the IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes website. Or visit the film’s official site at http://strandreleasing.com/films/our-last-tango/.