LEONARD Schradner's Naked Tango (Pearl, 1.20 am) takes itself so seriously it's hard not to laugh at it. Everything is dark, bleak and deeply symbolic. It's the kind of film you have to grow a beard and be depressed for.
It was based on an idea by Kiss of the Spiderwoman novelist Manuel Puig. Schradner - who wrote the screenplay for Kiss of the Spiderwoman - looks at the underbelly of life in Buenos Aires in the 1920s through metaphorically-tinted glasses.
It's luridly directed and acted, and much too morbid to interest mainstream audiences.
The story was inspired by, but not based upon the work of Puig. It concerns a bored wife (Mathilda May), who assumes the identity of a dead woman, marries a dubious nightclub owner, and falls in love with a tango-dancing gangster (Vincent D'Onofrio).
With all its pretensions, Naked Tango never really gets close to revealing anything to its audience about Buenos Aires in the 20s, the tango or infidelity. Any meaning the screenplay might have had to begin with is clouded by the trendy direction. The tango is indeed a metaphor for life, but why? IN La Double Vie De Veronique (Pearl, 9.30 pm) two women (one Polish, one French, both played by Irene Jacob) subtly affect each other's lives while remaining total strangers. There is a supernatural premise at work in the plot, without which the screenplay might only have been fit for a half-hour teleplay.
As it is, director Krzysztof Kieslowski stretches it to an almost oppressive 11/2 hours. The film has enough going for it to make it worthy of the cult audience it found. Jacob deserves much of the credit for its success, giving two luminous performances.
IT goes without saying that any film starring Madonna, with the exception of the bright and breezy Desperately Seeking Susan, is arthouse fare gone wrong. Dangerous Game (World, 9.30 pm) has all the usual sexual and sado-masochistic elements, with Madonna cast as the nymphomaniac.
