'Tango' by Zbigniew Rybczyński - Analysis

'Tango', the short film made by the Polish filmmaker and director Zbigniew Rybczyński (who also did the screenplay for this artwork), was created in 1980, but the initial release was in 1981 and has eight minutes in length.

  Either it's a short film or a feature one, ­both of them must have a theme, which can be quick to understand in most of the cases, but this doesn’t mean that it should be like that every time.

  In ‘Tango’, the theme is represented by the life’s various shapes and conditions encountered by almost every human, which are sketched perfectly on the actual dance type’s beats and tempo (tango), intriguing the whole film.

  The content of this artwork is expressed in a proper way relating to the film form. There are conventions of patterned relationships, each one depicting a lifestyle, a condition or a coincidence, correlating with one another in a small or huge percent. The theme is spotlighted very well with the addition of the background music, but also with the help of the repeated actions that occur in the same physical space (a room designed to incorporate small details from types of places in a house – bedroom, baby’s room, dining room/living room and maybe an entrance hall too).

   Speaking of these facts, I can wholeheartedly say that I did like this short film, from its every point of view. Also, I believe that it’s successful in dealing with the subject matter pretty well, as it depicts not only one stage, but multiple stages of the general abstract term, guided on the passionate, intense and impulsive type of dance. In addition, when more and more people start to join the scene, coming with a different action every time, the music tempo begins to aggravate as well, supporting the screenplay properly.

   The tango music was developed simultaneously with the dance and as the main characteristics are the two different beats (2/4 or 4/4) and the special focus on an ensemble formed of violins, piano, flute, concertina accordion and double bass.¹ All of the things listed previously taking part in ‘Tango’ too.

   As this film doesn’t have an easy theme, the director have undertaken some researches about the international tango dance and music, but also about the development and stages of life, seen in certain people and/or moments.

   Together with the ‘behind the scenes’ work are also the special techniques that Rybczyński used in his film. The first one would be Sound-Image², because this approach lead to the fact that a film should be as interesting for the ear as it’s for the eye, making the sound an integral part of it, whereas another significant technique for this short film is generated by Economy-Wholeness³. In the end, Rybczyński returned the film to the origin, presenting the Epiphany symbolized by the lonely old woman, who wakes up after the young boy leaves the scene completely. She sees the ball and deliberately takes it in her hands, then she scrutinize the room for a few seconds smiling, probably reminiscing the good memories she had there as a child/teenager, before she decides to leave as well, the short film ending with a meaningful moment not only for her, but for all of us to think at.

Source - Wikipedia

                  Zbigniew Rybczyński

Link to the short film: https://vimeo.com/90339479

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Tango dance - Types, Techniques and Influence <http://www.dancefacts.net/tango/tango-dance/>

7 Parameters of Richard Raskin (fourth and seventh)