After a tragedy at her workplace, a woman tries to start afresh by working for a former lover at an investment firm involved in highly profitable scams in the feature film Charlie Tango.
Simon Boisvert has been involved in independent movies for over twenty years now, and has churned out such titles as Echangistes, Barmaids, and 40 is the new 20. He returns to the director’s chair with this twisty low-budget effort that managed to hold our attention for its full 98-minute runtime.
Air traffic controller Kim (Stacie Mistysyn) seemingly has an okay life. She enjoys her work and she is happily married to police officer husband Jeff (Bruce Dinsmore). Her life is turned upside down though, when two planes collide in the air on her watch. Even though errors in the technology used played a massive part in the tragedy, the higher-ups point their finger at Kim and use her as a scapegoat.
Distraught, depressed, and worried about the investigation, Kim looks for a new job. She gets in contact with Charlie (David La Haye) – a former lover from back when she was a singer in a rock band. Charlie owns an investment firm and offers her work. The two then start a sordid affair, which includes sleeping together in the office, taking drugs, and meeting up with another woman in a hotel. La Haye plays Charlie as a sleazy con man, and he does so well, as seen in his offer to turn Jeff’s money into a profitable investment return. Though Jeff is unsure at first, both Kim and Charlie convince him to hand over his savings. After following Kim one night, Jeff finds out about his wife’s affair and confronts her, to which she readily admits to. He then also tells her that Charlie actually runs Ponzi schemes and that he has a plan to scam the scammer and take everything Charlie owns, with the help of his wife.
Charlie Tango is a twisty little drama/thriller with some decent acting and a great story. This is low-budget film-making though, and many of the traits that come from that sub-genre make it into Charlie Tango. Whilst the lighting is decent throughout, some of the shot choices are a little unimaginative at times, as is the blocking. Some directorial choices are a little strange too, as seen when a woman that Charlie also been sleeping with and pays off, walks around with a toy cat that forever meows. It’s played out like the cat is real when it is obviously not. We aren’t really sure why this is. Couldn’t they get a cat? Or didn’t they want the trouble that comes with trying to shoot with a live animal? Or is the woman eccentric and the fake cat is there on purpose? I’m not sure, but it did confuse me.
The sound in Charlie Tango is nice and crisp throughout. The score is okay but isn’t as epic as I feel it should have been, though I did enjoy the cover of The Animal’s House of the Rising Sun as the end credits rolled.
In the end, you have to give credit to Simon Boisvert; he, his crew, and his cast have done very well with what little they had at their disposal. They helped make a twisty thriller with a good story. I can only imagine what it would have looked like if a few million had been spent on it.
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