tcab I am so sick of Hollywood formula crap that I embraced this movie, even with all its faults. Duvall is an artist of depth, and he's created a movie here of some substance, in spite of the fact that the improvised dialog is often dull and even meaningless. But the movie has an ambiance, albeit slow, and atmosphere. Most of all, though, it is refreshingly free of most of the typical Hollywood manipulations. One could say that Duvall threw in the whole assassination idea just to carry the tango business—and that is true. But The tango part had no plot at all, so that the assassination plot serves as a sort of skeleton to support the real business, which is tango.Some have observed that tango dancing is an acquired taste that probably left much of the audience cold. But like all movies that introduce you to something you don't have any prior knowledge of, it is not the subject itself that's important, but rather the reaction and relationship of the character(s) to that subject. His love of tango gave the Duvall assassin an unusual depth of character that made him not only more interesting than your average assassin, but made him more human. This fact not only justified his getting away with murder, but also solved the common problem in movies of trying to portray sociopaths as believable people.I won't dwell on the many shortcomings of this movie because I found it refreshingly original, even honest, and as I said, mostly free of cynical Hollywood tricks.

Jerseyfinn I'm drawn to any Duvall movie simply because of his past movies and his compelling screen persona. This film takes a little time to settle into because the assassination is more of a subplot in the movie. Once this point sinks in, I really enjoy the film because the Argentinian tango dance scene is enthralling. The tango scenes are filmed so subtly and beautifully.You really feel as if you have been taken along for the journey as you're never quite sure of your surroundings or the people in it as you move beyond the sinister folk and the tango theme fully emerges. Ms. Pedraza's Manuela character is very interesting as she keeps to herself before finally opening up to reveal herself to Duvall. This is when you realize that it's a tango movie . . . something many would never watch on their own, but now that you're there, you're drawn into the story.To me, the interesting thing about Duvall's character is that he is a hit-man who must disguise all of himself to others ( he even leads his benefactors to believe that he would carry out the hit at a specific time when in truth, he always has his own cautious agenda -- and he is correct not to trust anyone ). He hides himself from the tango people he mingles with, and yet it is speaking with Manuela and her parents that he is most honest and sincere about himself and his feelings about tango and relationships. But his next move is to be the ruthless hit-man.Admittedly, you're a little confused initially, but looking back on the film, you feel pretty good about most of it.

Tim Johnson Diane and I watched this engrossing film last night after she had purchased it because of her recent trip to Buenos Aries and both of us loved what we saw. I guess, because of my general drift towards evaluating films visually, I was taken by Felix Monti's cinematography which was deep and almost malevolent in its intensity--a perfect match to the unfolding drama. The movie remains open ended at its conclusion with a number of parts at the end that, as usually happens, does not leave absolutes for viewer. This ambiguity must be a factor of my lame mind but it is an obvious tool used by the Duvall to leave threads of thought left untied.As opposed to many that post their reviews of movies on this site, I use IMDb as a diary of personal impressions about films I have just seen: not necessarily thoughts about the script of a movie' just my immediate ideas that flow into my thoughts after a movie's conclusion. Hence I take movies at face value; I do not even evaluate movies that I do not like. This movie has been criticized for Duvall's appearance as an aged man; the movie's bad dancing; Dufall's arrogance in making a movie that is "his baby" alone and other attacks too numerous to mention. I cannot agree however; the movie was slow moving and as such it painted for me a delicious pastische of the life of a complicated man doing a surreal job under surreal circumstances. Of course there may be holes in the plot and holes in the execution of that plot but to my mind, a movie, as a whole, must take on a dynamic of its own and this movie certainly did for this viewer.Diane said that the shots of the cafe's and the Tango clubs and the music and the dancing are what she saw in BA when she visited last year. Duvall's direction was excellent in that all the actors delivered their lines in documentary style with no sound stage or theater theatrics. I had the feeling that I wasn't looking at a movie, except for the subject matter, just a look into the life of a guy in a foreign city doing a job. The substance of that job comes as a shock when reality kicks in towards the end but in the totality of the movie it plays such a small part.We both loved the film, no doubt for different reasons but the satisfaction was the same. Definitely check it out after reading other comments if only to see what you think.

Joe Allen This film follows the well trodden path of an ageing hit-man (John J) sent on what may well be his last job in Argentina which also sets the backdrop for a second stand of the story: John J's love of Tango. Between the dancing and the hit-man underworld we move from light to dark and subsequently John J's character becomes difficult to like and yet difficult to dislike. And this is what makes this film stand out for me. John J is a real person. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. The interplay between characters has also got a fresh kind of realism to it ala Ken Loach. The touching café scene in particular between John J and Manuela feels like a docu-drama with its unscripted pauses and moments of awkwardness. If you are looking for action but are sick of the wooden black and white characters we get from Hollywood then this film is for you. I loved it.