Albert Mkrtchian hasbeen writing and directing films at the Armenfilm Studio in Armeniasince 1971. Among his films are A Monument (1971) and The Best Half ofLife (1979). Whether Tango of Our Childhood is acomedy or a tragedy, Albert Mkrtchian is not about to tell us; rather,these elements dance a strange tango in a melancholy tale interspersedwith moments of high farce. The action unfolds in an Armenian village,just after the war. Ruben, husband of Siranush, returns home from thefront to his wife and three children, but briefly; he soon leaves themto live with another villager, a nurse who saved his life during thewar. The film focuses on Siranush and the brave face she puts on thesituation, obsessively going about her usual role in the community ascombination friend and savior, ministering to everyone's problems buther own. The Armenian comic Mger Mkrtchian is nicely cast against typein the role of the lugubrious husband Ruben, who does get hiscomeuppance, leaving not one but two women to mourn him. The mosttelling and funniest episode in the film (a moment reminiscent of earlyPolanski) finds a massive sideboard being hauled back and forth betweenthe two women's homes, as neither will have it. Clare Kitson writes forVariety, "The decor and ambience of the immediate postwar period areimpeccably rendered, as are the minor characters, tangoing around theircourtyard at the drop of a hat."