piazzolla, los años del tiburón (w&d daniel rosenfeld, w. fernando regueira, alejandro carrillo penovi)

Watching Rosenfeld’s biographical documentary, whose rhythms are not dissimilar from a Piazzolla tune, breathless editing, followed by moments of reflection, it crossed my mind that it was a pity Piazzolla and Miles Davis never played together. Both possessed an extravagant, delirious talent, which permitted them to redefine their chosen musical formats (jazz and tango). Both were iconoclasts, both did things resolutely their own way. Even though it never happened, the comparison helps to explain Piazzolla’s position in the cannon to those those unfamiliar with tango. His was a breathtaking assault on a musical form that had grown staid and was on the point of being superseded by the sounds of Presley, the Beatles etc. Piazzolla reacted by reimagining the possibilities of tango, using his trusty bandoneon, as only a genius could.

Which only part of the story. Because Piazzolla, as the film shows, was already the biggest star in a curious firmament. The world of tango has always been centred on the Rio de la Plata, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. However, Piazzolla’s roots were in New York, where he grew up, the son of an Argentine immigrant who worked for a mafia boss, distilling whisky in the prohibition era. There’s a fascinating anecdote in the film about Piazzolla as an adolescent appearing in a film with Gardel. His parents only moved back to Argentina when Piazzolla was in his late teens. Hence his restlessly energetic music contains some of the vibrancy of New York, a city which has so much in common with Buenos Aires. 

Like most biographical documentaries, Piazzolla, los Años del Tiburon, suffers from trying to squeeze so much information into such a concertinaed timeframe. There are loose ends aplenty, and the secondary story of his relationship to his two children feels like a fascinating element which remains underdeveloped. None the less, the film offers a great insight into both the man and his music and the complex, restless journey of a virtuoso constantly seeking out ways to reinvent himself.