Sneak Preview SAURING MUSIC Spanish Filmmaker Carlos Saura Adds to His Musical Canon With ^^Tango" by Shlomo Schwartzberg MUSIC OF THE LIGHT: Filmmaker Carlos Saura again examines the aural art in his drama/dance musical 'Tango, " from Sony Classics. Tango," Carlos Saura's 30th feature film, continues the Spanish filmmaker's exploration of musical forms previously delved into in such films as his classic "Carmen" (1983) and, more recently, "Flamenco" (1995). Music, says the courtly Saura, sitting comfortably recently in a Toronto hotel room, is a constant in all his work. "I feel that all my films, in a sense, have to do with music. I feel that all my films are musical. Music for me is essential." That even includes movies like the antifascist drama 'Taxi" (1996) and his 1980 kids-on-the-run "Deprisa, Deprisa" ("Fast, Fast"), where music is a force in the background of the action. 'Tango," which juxtaposes the relationship between an Argentinean filmmaker and the mistress of a gangster with a similar story refracted in a performance of the famous tango, is very different fix)m a dance movie Uke "Flamenco." "There are a lot of variations in flamenco music, some very complex," Saura says. "A lot of flamenco dancing today is codified. It's a dance of a school, but it still permits the best dancers a margin [of flexibility]. In 'Tango,' everything is codified. It's created ahead of time—the dances have been choreographed and rehearsed and elaborately prepared," Saura says. That's not as restrictive for a filmmaker to put on film as it sounds. Movies like "Tango" allow Saura "a very wide creativity, in lighting, in cinematography, and also in the ways ofmoving the camera. Usually, they're made in a studio [and allow] for the possibiUties of movements. It actually allows me to experiment more." Yet, filtered through Vittorio Storaro's gorgeous camerawork, comes a lush, gUttery Hollywood look. Was Saura perhaps influenced by Hollywood musicals seen in his youth? The Huesca native doesn't mind the suggestion but dismisses it, even as he admits he's not exactly sure how to define his movies. "I like American musicals a lot. But I don't think they have a lot ofinfluence on me. It's another world, a world where a man and a woman just start to sing. That always surprises me." One American connection that might surprise moviegoers is the presence of Lalo Schifrin, who composed 'Tango's" score but who will always be known to U.S. audiences as Uie composer of the TV theme for "Mission: Impossible." But Schifrin is an Argentinean, and 'Tango" seems to have been a coming home, a homage to the music he loves most of all. Obviously, Saura ranges all over the filmmaking map in terms of style and subject. Hating to be pigeon-holed, he is tired of being asked why he varies his filmic palette. "It's almost like criticizing Picasso for wanting to paint a woman, then wanting to paint a horse, then wanting to paint a bird. It's natural for me. "Maybe the problem is that there are so many things that interest me," he adds. "I would love to do, for example, a science fiction film. I haven't found the moment to do it. Or a comedic farce—a lot of things. One has to choose, and I do what I can." Saura doesn't like to think about his old films. "I don't see them and I don't reflect on them. It's interesting because I'm very interested in memory—^but other people's memories, not mine. I adrnire some directors who are always reflecting on their work. Charles Chaplin, for example. When I lived with Geraldine [Chaplin's daughter] in his house, almost every afternoon we (( All my films are musical. Musicforme is essentiaV^ watched his old films. So, when they first stuck them on, he might not have exactly been there but he, always at some point, came in and watched himself. He always felt good watching his old movies with his family all around him." Like so many international filmmakers, Saura faces the American entertainment juggernaut, with Hollywood films dominating the boxofifice in Spain as in most other places across the globe. "The only advantage I have is that, in a certain way, my films sell all over the world." Though 'Tango" just recently entered intemational distribution, Saura has already finished another film, "Esa Luz!" The film retums him to the issue of the Spanish Civil War, explored already in such Saura films as "Ay, Carmela!" (1990) and a pivotal time in the lives of Spaniards of Saura's generation. "I want to leave a testimonial, my own testimony about the war. I need to leave something behind." He is also planning a fibn about the Spanish painter Goya, with Storaro again lensing. In many ways, the 67-year-old Saura is the only hnk between the cinema of compatriot Luis Bunuel and the new generation of Spanish filmmakers that includes Pedro Almodovar and Bigas Luna. He differs from someone like Almodovar, not just due to age but also because the director of"Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" has a poUtical bent, as do many of the country's current crop of directors. But tfie new directors, Saura adds, "are very interesting. But there has always remained directors from my generation." How then might Saura believe he fits into the pantheon of Spanish cinema? "I see myself more as a survivor," he says with a laugh. "It's really amazing that I've been able to do thirtysome films, and always I've done the fihns I wanted to do. "Some were good, some were medium, some were not even that," Saura says. "But I've done what I wanted to do." Mi "Tango. " Starring Miguel Angel Sola, Cecilia Narova, Mia Maestro and Juan Carlos Copes. Directed and written by Carlos Saura. Produced by Juan Carlos Codazzi, Carlos Mentasti and Luis A. Scalella. Drama/musical Rated PG-13. A Sony Pictures Classics release. Opens 2/12. 18 Boxofuce
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