Tango With Me
Genevieve Nnaji, Joseph Benjamin, Joke Silva, Tina Mba, Bimbo Manuel, Ahmed Yerima
Lola and Uzo are the perfect couple, their newly married life in front of them. All is well until the happiest day of their lives became the worst.This event leads the couple on a journey of self discovery. “Tango With Me” is a contemporary story about forgiveness about some of our core values as a people and our faith. A story that proves that above all, Love does indeed, conquer all.
Mahmood Ali-Balogun
Mahmood Ali-Balogun
Femi Kayode
2011
The Color. The Cast. The Crew. The Content.
It is about time!!! I can honestly say that I have fasted, prayed, and tithed for this movie to come out. I have bribed, begged and grovelled to get this movie (and some of you can testify lol) and finally, after seeing the movie, I am elated that my efforts were not in vain. This is one of the few over-hyped Nigerian movies that was worth all the hype and then some. It doesn’t reach-for and miss like most others, it hits the bulls eye in every aspect.
Tango with me is a well tailored storyline about a newly married couple faced with the most outlandish yet most inconceivable horror on their wedding night. The couple, played by Joseph Benjamin and Genevieve Nnaji, are now forced to live this life post marriage that is nothing like they ever imagined it would be.
Their household which they assumed would be filled with love is filled with silence. Their interactions become awkward and heedful. Their lives are thrown off balance and Mahmood Ali-Balogun shows you every second of it. Where the music is necessary it is present but he does not relent to withhold it in order to depict the silence that has become the lives of these two individuals.
As a viewer, I am most struck initially by what I deem the 3 C’s of film – color, cast and crew. That is to say the visuals have to stun me, the cast have to make you forget that this is actually a movie you’re watching and the crew make their presence felt in the little details. Considering all that, it is not far fetched to say that Tango with Me was pure art in motion.
For that hour and 30 minutes or so of film time, I was stuck on my seat paying more attention to this movie than I remember paying to any movie this entire year or since ‘Barfi‘ – Bollywood, Hollywood, Nollywood and Ghollywood alike. The movie throws out many questions about our morality, our character and our sense of the world and by the end it answers none. Believe it or not, for me, this was one of the most distinguishing aspects of the entire thing. Unlike most other movies it doesn’t seek to promote any lofty ideals backed by some Greek philosopher or a Bible passage. Instead it presents the facts in a normal human way and shows us how other normal humans were forced to deal with it.
The performances by Genevieve and Joseph Benjamin were in one word, beautiful. Genevieve, as the broken Christian girl who knows not where to go from here is not just convincing she is also able to pull you in and make you question yourself: “what would you do in that situation”? She presents the emotions with skills and deals with them bit by bit.
Joseph Benjamin, on the other hand, was the highlight of the movie for me. Kudos to Mahmood again because it goes without saying that it takes a great director to bring out the best in any actor and for me this was Joseph’s best till date. I went in with some questions about whether the pairing between Genevieve and Joseph would look awkward? About whether Joseph would be able to pull this off? About whether he would look natural in the role? In the end, Joseph gave 101%.
Similarities have been drawn between this movie and the 2011/2 Ini Edo starrer “Bride’s War“. Even I considered it for a minute, but having seen both movies I have to say that the approach is very different for this movie. Whilst Bride’s War concentrated mainly on a husband who blamed his wife and took it out on life, Tango with Me presents a more understanding and compassionate husband. Tango with me also deals with the issue from three angles: the bride, the groom, and the society.
The cameras, the colors, the locations, the colors, the sets, the costumes, the colors, the soundtrack, the colors…*phew*. In the end I’m not sure what message Mahmood intended for the viewer to take away from this movie but rest assured that I took all of them away. And I have just one question, Mr. Ali-Balogun abeg when is your next movie coming out?
House Of Ga’a
COMING SOON: Wrong Number
I Am Watching The Movie Now
I watched this movie in the cinema and I have to watch it again to see why everyone is raving about it. The first thing I noticed about this film was that it was a totally dark story but the colors where the colors of a lighthearted romantic comedy. Right there and then, they lost me. Genevieve’s acting did not convince me so I did not buy into the storyline. Joe Ben was surprisingly better than usual. How did this middle class couple check into a hotel that lacked this much security?
Yes! I shouted “Hallelujah” as well when I learned that Tango With Me had FINALLY made it to Iroko TV. I had contacted Mr. Ali-Balogun a year or so ago to find out what to do to bring it to the states, and voila! The colors – much respect to Balogun for the representation of rich colors and fabrics to create an inviting mood throughout the movie. The production I must say seemed flawless, which again I commend him for. As this was a super-hyped movie however, I did expect a little more from the story. Don’t get me wrong – I think the story held itself together very well, and was definitely a story line that would intrigue viewers, as it was complex with its different issues woven in. But I thought that the viewers could have gotten a little more insight as to what the emotional processing was immediately after the rape to understand how they got to where they were psychologically to see a therapist after 3 months (I think). I’m thinking, this is the 21st century – surely there are rape kits, women doctors/psychologists available for this kind of processing shortly after the whole thing. Just my two cents. Also, there were times when I thought Genevieve’s character was not evoking enough emotion, but perhaps that is just her acting style, although I thought overall she did a great job. Loved Joseph Benjamin in this (ok – someone in NR must have questions about his acting ability in general :)), as I think he did convincing job of displaying the range of emotions to portray his frustrations and other internal conflicts. I just think there was a little more meat that could have been drawn out from the story, but overall, I was impressed. Loved it, in fact. My favorite part was when Lola’s parents (Joke and Ahmed) did the Tango. I thought that was hilarious!- like a comedy of manners in the middle of a crisis. I look forward to more movies from Mahmood Ali-Balogun.