The Tango Lesson

One of the most disturbing cinematic developments of the '90s has been the birth of a breed of directors who also think they're actors — as compared to actors who think they're directors, like Kevin Costner.

Typical of the bunch is Quentin Tarantino, who played a pair of too-long supporting roles in his films "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction." With "The Tango Lesson," English director Sally Potter has joined this self-indulgent lot.

This slow-moving and underdeveloped drama is a semi-autobiographical tale about how Argentinian dancer Pablo Veron taught Potter how to dance the tango while she was in the middle of some personal and professional crises.

As to the results, Potter acquits herself quite nicely on the dance floor — after all, she was actually a professional dancer and choreographer at one time. But as an actor . . . well, she proves that she's no Quentin Tarantino. In fact, she's even worse.

Shown in the process of writing a screenplay as the movie begins, Potter is dissatisfied with the results so far (given the fact that it's a lame thriller about a disabled fashion designer who becomes murderous, it's no huge surprise). She's also been chased out of her apartment/workspace, which is being renovated, so she travels to Paris and Buenos Aires to do some research.

There she meets Pablo, catches one of his tango routines and immediately becomes intrigued with the skillful performer. Scrapping her other film ideas, Sally suddenly decides to make a movie about learning the tango, in exchange for lessons from Pablo.

To the surprise of both, she turns out to be a talented student and the two are entered in a contest. But she also confuses their passionate dancing for off-the-dance-floor passion, which almost scuttles both the film and the competition.

Obviously, the material's very thin, and it doesn't help that Potter has no acting presence whatsoever. Veron's only slightly better, but he does have some charisma.

As for the dance scenes, they're the only time when the film really comes to life. But there aren't nearly enough of them to justify seeing this silly vanity piece.

"The Tango Lesson" is rated PG for some violence, a couple of profanities and some brief partial nudity (a model that walks by the camera in a particularly revealing swimsuit).