Now in our fourth calendar year
The writer, Sondra Overholser, of Eddie, My Love brings us another reminder that the Tampa Bay film community isn’t totally incompetent (of course this doesn‘t apply to everyone!) with her film Forbidden Tango. Last week she let me take home her first full length film to review for the PCR.
I reviewed Eddie, My Love a couple weeks ago, if you remember correctly and I thought the story was quick and to the point, but had a beginning, middle, and end. It was a really great short and conveys potential for the film festival circuit in my opinion.
On to the movie at hand, Forbidden Tango. The movie is somewhat like a soap opera, it has a couple different stories going on at the same time but they all seem to connect in some way or another.
Rosa (Mary Sereno) is a naïve young woman, who seems to be very clueless. Rosa works for a tyrant woman as a maid and is just trying to make ends meet but always seems to get cut down and degraded by her employer, Margarita. Margarita (Mary Jane Heath) has a lot of demons to deal with as well, mysterious letters, infidelity, and her past. Her step-son Roberto (Kevin Hentkowski) and the naïve Rosa, end up having an attraction for each other and a Forbidden Tango. Rosa’s focal point from this point on is Roberto and the feelings she seems to have for him. Meanwhile, A woman (played by Anita Marsano) is snooping through the Inn and seeming to get to the bottom of a problem that isn’t really clear. A couple other people are also thrown into the mix, the secretary Sheila ( Tisha Linendoll) who seems to be a shady woman, Margarita’s husband (Mark Nash), an attorney, Aunt Mame (played by Overholser) and then finally the police. The movie has a somewhat Scooby-Doo ending if you ask me, but I guess you’ll just have to see it and make that judgment yourself.
The acting is adequate, some of the actors being better than others. Mary Sereno, who played the naïve Rosa, was absolutely irritating in that role. She acts like she is ten years old and her portrayal of this character made my skin crawl. I won’t label her a bad actress because maybe it just wasn’t the part for her, and it certainly wasn’t the part for her. Sondra Overholser who played the cranky and cynical Aunt Mame is probably the best actress in the whole film. Her funny little quips add some actual humor. There are a couple roles you need to see to believe. One in particular is Detective Garcia (Gus Perez).
I had to watch this film twice to fully understand what was going on. A lot of the points were very vague and I think it tends to leave the viewer searching for their own conclusions and not truly following the actual plot line. The whole movie has a very Je ne sais quoi feel to it. A quicker pace may have solved some of these problems. I think it would make a good soap opera episode with a little tightening. As for a re-do into a major motion picture, it would take a couple re-writes and some new actors to be even considered in my opinion. It could possibly be done. For a film that had a $1,000 budget, it’s pretty good. A little bit of editing to tighten the scenes together would probably do a world of good. I had no expectations going in, therefore it fulfilled any vision I had for the film. The actual dance sequence was probably one of the best scenes and for me was what made me think that the film really had some potential.
I give the film -- two stars.
Til next time,
Ashley Lauren
"Ashley Lauren's Hollywood" is ©2003 by Ashley Lauren Lewis. The official PCR movie rating system is zero-to-four stars, which is a five-point system that includes zero. Webpage design and all graphics herein are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2003 by Nolan B. Canova.