Tina Turner doc works as a swan song
It only needs one word: “Tina.”
The new documentary about the hardscrabble life of one of music's most vaunted superstars — Tina Turner — is a blazing dive into the seesawing success and horrors of her life with the abusive Ike Turner, her unlikely yet spectacular return as a middle-aged rock strutter in the 1980s and her current state of retirement in Europe with longtime love Erwin Bach.
Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, the Oscar-winning directors behind “Undefeated” and “LA 92,” teamed again to showcase Turner's extraordinary life in the film, which debuts on HBO and HBO Max on Saturday.
Even fans familiar with her story from her 1986 autobiography with Kurt Loder, “I, Tina,” or the acclaimed 1993 film “What's Love Got To Do With It,” named for her 1984 Grammy-winning single, will be riveted.
In a recent conversation, Lindsay and Martin reminded us why “Tina” stands alone.
Hers is a fairly wellknown story, especially with the movie (“What’s Love Got to Do With It”) and her books. What did you want to bring viewers that might have them admit, I thought I knew her history, but maybe not quite so much?
(Lindsay) As we started asking people younger than us — in their 20s and 30s — we were surprised to find out they didn't know the story, and there is a whole new generation of people who would be an audience.
There's a bit of telling of it for the uninitiated.
We discovered in early conversations with Tina that her relationship with her own story and the public identity of Tina Turner is a very complicated relationship. Tina is often rightly held up as someone who overcame trauma and is a symbol of strength and resilience. But a discovery for us was that we often forget that because she got away from that trauma and abuse, it doesn't mean it went away. That choice to survive is a choice she's making every day, even now in her 80s. So we said, let's explore Tina through her point of view.
She seemed pretty sanguine in the 2019 interview. Did you get the sense that she’s really at peace with her past now?
(Martin) Yes and no. I think the reason we took the point of view of the film is to underscore this idea that she's processing. Even if someone acknowledges her past, even that acceptance, the healing emotionally, is something that's a journey, and I think she found a place where she has a peaceful space for that healing.
I think she has some good days and bad days. One of the big takeaways from Tina is the strength and resilience and also how that woman has worked so hard for sixplus decades as a performer. I think she's at a place where she finally admitted to herself that she's earned the opportunity to relax.
You have footage of her at the Venice Film Festival saying she didn’t watch “What’s Love Got to Do With It” because it was too difficult to relive. Has she seen the finished version of the documentary?
(Lindsay) Yes, she has seen the film. It was during quarantine, so we would have ideally gone over to Europe to show her, but we got a theater set up so she could see it, and we were anxious about it. Any time we make a film, we want the people we're making it about to feel like we got it right. And there was anxiety that we were going to do the same thing to her that other people have.
But ultimately she wanted to see it. Our producer said she was beaming and said, 'You guys captured it!' To me, it hints at the idea that there is some acceptance that this is how it was.
Erwin says at the end that this film and the Broadway show are Tina’s farewell, and given her age, I think we know that’s probably true. Did you get that sense as well?
(Lindsay) Yeah, I think that became evident when we did the interview with her. She expressed to us that this was kind of it. I do feel pretty confident that she has worked her whole life and this and the musical are pieces that can exist without her having to get onstage.
(Martin) We were filming with her a couple of days before going to the Broadway premiere, and she did reaffirm the sentiment of feeling nervous about the event because she takes retirement very seriously and that includes the stage and the press and the mirror that has become Tina Turner.
It was evident that she was exhausted from playing the role of Tina Turner, but she was deeply appreciative of the love and celebration of her story. It felt in that moment that this could be her opportunity to bow out and bow out slowly. That said, it is Tina Turner, and you never know what she might do.