Marlene's Love Tango

Marlene's Love Tango

Bruce Von Stiers

Marianne Hettinger is a professional dancer. She is also an actor, director and producer. Several years ago, Marianne wrote and directed a film about a New York City dance teacher. The title of the film was Mango Tango. The film won the Best Director award at the Detroit Independent Film Festival.

Marianne has taken that film and enhanced several aspects of it. She has now completed and released a new, updated version of the film, titling it Mango Tango: The Director's Cut.

The film is basically about a woman searching for love. Past relationships apparently never quite worked out. So, she is out there, looking for the perfect soul mate, hoping to spend the rest of her life with them.

Marianne plays Marlene, the lead character. We meet her as she's trying to ramp up a new relationship. Was Julio going to be the one? Marlene hadn't yet hit the big time as a Broadway star like she'd hoped. So this relationship could be the one thing in her life that was really good. But was the relationship really meant to be? Apparently not. So Marlene continues her quest for that perfect mate.

Almost getting knocked over by a roller-skater in the park, Marlene ends up talking with the guy. A therapist, he listens to Marlene's woes and they set up a consultation. Freddy Bosche, plays Jesus, the therapist. Bosche has been in films such as Olympus Has Fallen and Criminal.

A session with Jesus leads Marlene to a path of spiritual enlightenment with a shaman. A group gathering with the shaman at Marlene's apartment ultimately leads her to a relationship with a guy named Tony. The shaman was played by Michael E. Knight. You might recognize him from his long stints on both General Hospital and The Young and the Restless. Tony is played by Patrick Stephenson.

By this point in the film, you will have probably realized the Marlene has horrible taste in men. Apparently the men she's been involved with took advantage of her neediness and basically were in the relationship for sex. In fact, there is a scene in the film showing Marlene and Tony utilizing several sexual positions. A part of that scene has a bit of an “ick” factor due to use of menstrual blood.

There are several nice dance scenes in the film. Marianne did a really good job of choreographing the dance scenes. Especially one scene where her character interacts with an international dance champion. That particular scene also has a fantastic jazz vocal song in it.

Marlene can't shake the feeling she is being watched. That feeling is realized when she gets a strange note. Then she visits her family in Germany, which precipitates her getting kidnapped.

This film basically has two main plot elements. The first is that Marlene has not been able to find her soul mate. And the second is that she has a stalker, even though that isn't known until later in the film. Unlucky in love is what Marlene seems to be all about. That she would attract a stalker isn't out of the realm of possibilities. But the whole stalker thing and how that concludes is very, very strange.

Other people with minor roles in the film include Bruno Rabl and Dr. Alan J. Goldstein. Michele Civelli was the cinematographer for the film and stage and film producer John A. Gallagher was the executive producer.

Mango Tango: The Director's Cut was a bit uneven. The acting was okay and the cinematography was adequate. But the story itself was very odd. Even though Marlene looking for a soul mate was a solid plot element, the whole stalker thing seemed really weird. For me, the best things about the film were the dance sequences and the music. The music selections were excellent and actually fit well with the story. And as Marianne Hettinger is a professional dancer, having showcased her dancing on televised dance competitions and with Antonio Banderas on Letterman, her choreography for the dance numbers in the film are great.

Mango Tango: The Director's Cut is now available on the free streaming service, Tubi. Here is a link to the film: http://tubitv.com/movies/723523/mango-tango?start=true

If you'd like to learn more about Marianne Hettinger, visit her official web site at http://www.mariannehettinger.com/

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