FILM REVIEW :: Gotan Project – La Revancha del Tango (2005, Prisca Lobjoy)

Video montage/Live musical performance by Gotan Project

this is what I see

dark red/blue gels; black background

hight contrast/high saturation lighting and filters

choppy action; cut frame rates; "still" images that flicker and move/back and forth editing

B/W images interspersed with hot color images, heavy black ground and pulled out high chroma colors

Cross dissolves, overlays, vintage B/W footage & clips, opacity variations, projected images over live performers

repeat indexical images; create rhythym

time images to musical beats; synchronized audio

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woman applying eyeliner

man putting on suit jacker (back and forth, back and forth)

freestyle disco dancing

images of the city/ city lights at night/ city traffic streaming by;

view from a taxi cab; the meter is running

view from the back window of a vehicle in the rain; looking back while moving forward (desaturated, purpley filter)

woman strapping on tango shoes (back and forth, loop image several times)

large red lips fill screen, overlay a man's silhouette

spinning record

husky (dog) cries tears of blood

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Ceiling fan spins in an industrial building as seen from outdoors through geometric/Mondrian window panes; 2 long flourescent bulbs, bright white stripes

cross dissolve to water surface to water drops to city lights at night

taxi by park on moonlit night

woman with sunglasses in taxi (daytime) leans on bent elbow, looks out window

Buenos Aires highway signs, travel down the highway

blue filter/dust and scratches filters

light bulb close-up; 25W Argentina

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Circus woman spinning firey torches in lingerie and garter; spinning, loopping image (back and forth)

B/W vintage clip, milonga overhead shot, see formations, forward and reverse to beat

spinning fire torches

legs only shot; fast ganchos by a woman; violent, temperamental

flashing white light over legs moving (abstract/filtered heavily)

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Bandoneon; dark lighting/spot lighting, instrument appears to be suspended in air by itself; disconnected from the musician's hands as it moves

hot light filtered/watercolorey dancers, seen from shoulders up (back and forth in giros)

spinning waists of dancers in giros

vintage B/W footage of couple dancing with heads connected

B/W woman's hand shakes dice (clip seen in reverse)

woman's hand picks up a pile of bills (money)

ganchos by a woman; kicking

dice roll (forward)

ganchos, back and forth

shake dice/woman lays down

woman's hand lays down money on a table

blue dress spins (back and forth)

view from a car window

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Extreme close-up of candle flame/flicker blue/flash light

cross dissolve to birthday candles to layers of flames

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slow motion dancers, man in white shirt, woman in red dress

see separately, and in triplet images of selves

finally seen dancing together; jumping, spinning, stretching

slow-motion playback

end with woman's arm suspended out, a limp nazi-like salute

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woman climbing stairs in a house; black a white image; see her legs only

woman in white holds a bright white light in hand, looks at camera

hand rolls dice/ close up of a girl's eye

vintage clip; man approaches girl to embrace and begin dance, embrace cut short, back and forth, back and forth

repeat several times, then embrace is reached, they turn a giro

eye close up/hands dance in sign language...or are the fighting? are they gesturing?

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light reflecting intense color on dark, ripply water

live dancers move in front of stage projection of water; envelops the musicians.

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day in the city; the virgin, a woman's face, city's streaming traffic

busses pass; still image flickers and moves, riding the bus

B/W ballerina spins in full skirt on stage, stage curtain sweeps in front and obliterates her view

beautiful women everywhere

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red screen

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horizontal white bars in 2 irregular columns scroll up the screen

old/dust and scratches filters

racehorse footage, vintage clips in B/W

marching legs (heavy filter)

woman outside on pay phone

flashing streetlights, fade to black ground with flashing orange lights