Charlie Tango

Directed by Simon Boisvert, Charlie Tango follows an air-traffic controller (Stacie Mistysyn’s Kim) as she inadvertently causes a mid-air crash and subsequently attempts to move on with her life by taking on a job with her shady lover (David La Haye’s Charlie) – with complications ensuing after Kim and her police-officer husband (Bruce Dinsmore’s Jeff) lose a bundle of money after investing with Charlie. Filmmaker Boisvert, working from his own screenplay, delivers a perpetually erratic endeavor that does, at the outset, seem to be setting the stage for a low-key drama about regret and loss, as the movie is, in its early stages, focused on Kim’s efforts at overcoming the aforementioned tragedy and her destructive relationship with La Haye’s seedy Charlie – with the effectiveness of this stretch heightened by Mistysyn’s solid, searing turn as the damaged central character. It’s interesting to note, then, that Charlie Tango eventually takes a sharp left turn and transforms into an entertaining (albeit progressively ludicrous) melodrama, and while the film is certainly never dull, Boisvert’s decision to pile on one twist after another does ensure that the final half hour (and impressively downbeat finale) isn’t quite as impactful as one might’ve anticipated – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as a watchable yet erratic thriller that admittedly contains its fair share of memorable images and sequences.

**1/2 out of ****