Naked Tango is an emotionally plagued neo-noir drama that was mastered by Leonard Schrader. It is a period piece set in 1920 Buenos Aires and follows a girl played by Mathilda May who avoids marrying someone she does not want by taking over the identity of a woman who has committed suicide. She believes to have grown out of troubles of her past, only to be embroiled in the criminal world and a violent tango dancer/pimp named Cholo played by Vincent D’Onofrio. She is made a part of the sex trade but her ultimate expressive art which is tango, acts as both her nemesis and her salvation, a feeling that is relayed throughout her internal conflict as well.
This makes the film unique as it has beautiful and erotic levels of tango dance that grab all the appropriate emotions to the audience through still and moving images. There is such a wonderful aspect of Naked Tango, in which tango is accepted not only as a part of the visual story, but actually comes to symbolize that very quest for liberty which the lead character is constantly fighting for. The way the tango scenes are choreographed forms part of the narrative itself and choreography and places are overshadowed with affection and brutality.
Despite lacking any remarkable commercial success, Naked Tango has attracted audience with its stylized representation of sexual intercourse and questions of identity, compliance, power. It is, however, the juxtaposition of the beauty of the dance and the raw brutality of the protagonist’s predicament that makes the world of Naked Tango equally desirable and terrifying. This is a highly stylized, emotionally rich drama that defies the monotony of the conventional period films.
