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Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin co-directed the sports documentary Undefeated in 2011, and their Berlin Film Festival Special Gala, Tina , could have shared the same title. While this is set in the world of music, its emphasis is on the resilience, survival and comeback of its subject, singer Tina Turner . Featuring a contemporary interview with Turner herself, the HBO Documentary Films title mixes talking heads with archive interviews and footage to paint a vivid picture of a musical legend. This is clearly an authorized biography — it’s executive produced by Turner’s husband, Erwin Bach — but it has enough verve and insight to entertain and enlighten. People magazine interview in which Tina revealed she’d been abused by her former husband and musical partner, the late Ike Turner. Commencing her contemporary interview, Tina says she had reservations about speaking out back then, so she asked her psychic what was going to happen. The psychic reassured her it … [Read more...] about Berlin Review: ‘Tina’ Documentary Paints Vivid Picture Of Musical Legend Tina Turner

The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, who survived an abusive marriage to rebuild herself as a superstar solo artist, looks back over her life and career in this inspirational portrait for HBO. Toward the end of Tina , the revealing documentary tribute by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin for HBO, Tina Turner is seen in an extended concert clip performing the Beatles' "Help" as a decelerated ballad — intimate, melancholy and full of feeling. It's the polar opposite of so many of her most iconic stage moments, either as an R&B human tornado or a growling rock 'n' roll lioness. But the takeaway from this uplifting look back over Turner's tumultuous life and five-decade career in music is that she got where she is not by relying on the help of others but through her own remarkable resilience and self-determination. In the #MeToo era, Turner's story is more relevant than ever, particularly because she spoke out about the ordeal of her marriage at a time when the majority of women in the public … [Read more...] about ‘Tina’: Film Review | Berlin 2021

It’s early January, and Sarah McBride is sitting at a desk in her parents’ house in Delaware. A “Sarah McBride for State Senate” yard sign is wedged between a bookshelf and the wall — already a relic from the election she won two months earlier. “It’s been a whirlwind,” she says, leaning forward and taking off her glasses to rub her eyes. And not just because it’s her first time holding public office: When she won her election for state senator of Delaware’s 1st District with an overwhelming 73 percent of the vote, she became the highest-ranking openly trans elected official in U.S. history. Even on a video call, it’s easy to imagine how she captured three-quarters of her constituents in November. At 30 years old, she’s already well into her second decade in politics. She was 13 when she tagged along on a campaign for the first time, for a friend of her dad’s who was running for Delaware insurance commissioner. At 17, she worked on Democrat Jack Markell’s bid to be governor, … [Read more...] about Why Sarah McBride Might Be the Most Inspiring Elected Official in America