Director: Brian Gibson
Starring: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne
Running Time: 118 minutes
Synopsis: Born in Tennessee, Anna Mae Bullock always loved to sing and perform, but as a child she was abandoned by her mother. In the mid-1950s, a teenaged Anna Mae (Angela Bassett) moves to St. Louis and soon catches the eye of famous singer and songwriter Ike Turner (Laurence Fishburne). She joins his touring group and he gives her the stage name Tina, while their romance evolves into marriage and children. Through the 1960s and 1970s Tina achieves stardom with a string of hit songs, but Ike is beset by jealousy and addictions, and becomes abusive.
What Works Well: An adaptation of Turner's book, this is an against-the-odds biography, elevated by remarkable mid-career turbulence and two stellar performances. Angela Bassett navigates a long arc from a young woman who knows what it means to be abandoned to a star forced to independently re-invent herself, passing through the star-struck, ingenue, and victim stages. Laurence Fishburne captures the raw danger of a talented man suffering from a Svengali complex and multiple demons. Together, they provide the high-revving power behind music performance scenes that capture Turner's energy and naturally forceful on-stage presence.
What Does Not Work As Well: Ike's brilliant but deeply flawed personality merits a more thorough background exploration. The intense focus on the central relationship relegates all others to irrelevance, with none of the secondary characters afforded the opportunity to make a sustained impact.
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