Everyone’s had a bad work day. We’ve felt the stress, endured it for better or worse, and we get home and think “Hey, at least I didn’t kill anybody.” But what if you did? Would you face the consequences, or would you want to run away and start over? This is the predicament we find Kim in at the start of Charlie Tango, the newest thriller from writer-director-producer Simon Boisvert.
Death, Passion, and Betrayal
Kim (Stacie Mistysyn, of Degrassi fame) is a singer in a rock band by night, and an air-traffic controller by later-night. In between, she partakes in an affair with Charlie (David La Haye) and struggles to connect with her husband, Jeff (Bruce Dinsmore). At the start of her shift, one of her coworkers goes home sick and she volunteers to cover both posts. This immediately backfires, as she has to watch two screens, juggle two headsets, and can’t use the landline to call out when two planes are on course for each other. Despite her best efforts, a commercial plane clips a smaller one, and four people die in the resulting crash.
Finding herself depressed in the aftermath, she can’t even bring herself to sing as she becomes obsessed with the tragedy she’s responsible for. Jeff, a police officer, tries to encourage her to see a psychologist, but instead of dealing with her mental health or the impending civil suits and potential charges, she runs to Charlie. A seemingly wealthy real estate investor, he offers her a fresh start at his company handling new clients and taking their money. Where the money goes, however, is only his concern and she knows nothing about it. Just as she starts to throw her life away to party with this man she doesn’t seem to know too well, she discovers his literal Ponzi scheme and desperately tries to untangle herself. Little does she know, it’s too late.
Charlie Tango: It Takes Three to Plot-Twist
Despite a trepidatious takeoff and a bit of a rocky landing, where Charlie Tango really shines is at its cruising altitude. What starts a potential emotional drama quickly becomes a layered thriller, with each beat revealing a new twist. Mistysyn is a standout performer, bringing depth to a woman cycling between a midlife crisis and the fallout of traumatic events. La Haye’s character is unapologetically sleazy to everyone he meets, and while Dinsmore really grounds the relationship between Jeff and Kim, his eagerness for justice over processing his marital issues made me wonder if we would dig deeper into his mindset, but I was left wanting.
Boisvert has done a fine job of balancing a potentially convoluted plot without seeming too rushed or unnatural, which could have been the case with a film clocking in under 100 minutes. The film’s tone is notably bolstered, if not carried, by Oliver Palotai’s score, ensuring that every moment of tension is punctuated with strings or piano. While the ending left me wanting for something a bit more organic, the impact is still there, and fans of the genre will appreciate the hairpin turns that we take along the way.
Charlie Tango is now available via VOD.
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