`TANGO' DOESN'T MISS A STEP.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Carlos Saura's latest dance-inspired film, ``Tango,'' continues the great Spanish director's fascination with how life, art and memory intermingle, and how that can be expressed through a self-conscious display of cinema, music and movement.

Set, for the most part, in a Buenos Aires film studio where an ambitious tango picture is being prepared, the movie about making the movie is as artful and passionate a work as its rich subject demands. Saura brilliantly shows how both the choreography and the director Mario's (Miguel Angel Sola) personal vision of the piece grows through a demanding rehearsal period, while peppering the piece with wonderful (illusion-or-reality?) tricks.

Political points (Mario wants to include a harrowing number that addresses Argentina's recent military dictatorship) and show-biz problems (his producers don't want anything that dark and dangerous threatening the project's commercial prospects) are deftly brought into play. A May-December love affair that develops between Mario and the young dancer Elena (Mia Maestro), who is the girlfriend of a mobster who's the movie's primary investor, plays somewhat more hackneyed.

But in the end, all of these influences result in glorious, thrilling dancing, all bracingly accompanied by Lalo Schifrin's (``Mission: Impossible'') intricate score and Vittorio Storaro's (``Apocalypse Now,'' ``The Last Emperor'') gorgeous and inventive cinematography.

Among the highlights, where all of these marvelous elements come together, are fanciful ballets that interpret key aspects of Argentine history. These include an immigrant landing built around a crime of passion, a gang war every bit as good as the ones in ``West Side Story'' (and featuring the rare, sublime experience of ballet star Julio Bocca dancing the woman's part) and, most impressive, that controversial, multiscene tribute to the disappeared victims of the generals' regime.

Much of Saura's recent work - ``Blood Wedding,'' ``Carmen,'' ``El amor brujo,'' ``Flamenco,'' ``Ay, Carmela!'' - has leaned on the old ``Shakespeare in Love'' gimmick, where backstage melodrama bobs and weaves with the themes of the show being staged. The concept is kind of rickety, but as long as it inspires work as vibrant as ``Tango,'' there's obviously still abundant life in the old idea.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Tango'' (PG; violence, adult themes).

The stars: Miguel Angel Sola, Cecilia Narova, Mia Maestro, Carlos Rivarola.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Carlos Saura. Produced by Luis A. Scalella, Carlos A. Mentasti and Juan C. Codazzi. Released by Sony Pictures Classics.

Running time: One hour, 55 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle Sunset 5, West Hollywood.

Our rating: Three and one half stars.

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Photo

Photo: Mia Maestro and Carlos Rivarola star in ``Tango,'' a movie about the making of a movie about tango.