Tina

The steady stream of musician biopics in recent years—with at least eighteen in the offing—continues with HBO’s Tina, for which we have an “official teaser trailer.” The two-part structure incorporates multiple editing touches that help lend meaning to Turner’s interview sound bites as well as additional production elements to render it into a cohesive whole, working with footage from the early 60s up to today. From black and white to 4K and from Motown to orchestral anthem, it comes with an overarching promise—appropriate to the genre—that we might come away with a more in-depth understanding of Turner as a person.

The edit is consistently fast-paced and full of little details, designed to impress upon the audioviewer the dynamism and energy of her music and life, with the classic “Proud Mary” as the music centrepiece for this first segment. From the beginning, Turner’s voice is centred; she implores, “look what I have done in this lifetime, with this body,” against a sonically enhanced clapping sound effect carrying over from an initial audience shot. This deference to the crowd is unsurprising—the liminal space of the live concert is the experiential core of the musical biopic. Many others lean similarly on this notion; as just one example, the trailer for The High Note, based on the life of Diana Ross, similarly steeps us in the live concert experience. As Turner says the word “body”, we see her tilting her head back, cutting mid-motion from a latter-day Turner to one from the black and white television era, emphasizing the longevity of her career. At 0:13 both sound and vision fade to black, opening to a mid-career concert shot of Turner asking if we’re ready. This is followed closely by a shot of a cassette spinning, and then a glide down the piano, into the studio title card.

A marked shift then occurs at 0:37 with the screen cutting out to black a second time, albeit this time an effect emulating an older TV set turning off. As it turns out, this is a new version of “Proud Mary” that is much slower and more intense, with orchestral strings and a steady build. This is an unusual approach—often, if there is a trailerized, cover version of a song, that version will simply be used. For musical biopic trailers, a variety of songs might be used, with a slower, more dramatic additional song chosen if called for. In this case, there is a direct comparison between the original and this new version, and it implies or asks us to consider both the high-energy entertainer persona of Tina Turner and who she is off camera. Throughout, talking heads of those close to her, as well as Turner herself, acknowledge and focus on various key details of her life. This includes both the highs and lows, such as her ambition to become “the first black rock and roll singer to pack places like the Stones”, and that fact that her “worst part of [her] life has been an inspiration” (perhaps alluding to her ex-husband, Ike). “It hurts to have to remember those times, but at a certain stage forgiveness takes over,” Turner elaborates, ending where we began, with a shot of Turner overlooking a massive stadium audience. This emphasizes the contrast between the intimacy of her voice and the sublime spectacle of the audience. The music, similarly, suggests less division between them than one might think; there is simply more to know and understand about the fullness of her person, just as “Proud Mary” can stretch emotionally and instrumentally in this cover version to accompany Turner’s introspective monologue.

The trailer ends with a grander statement of this trailerized, orchestral version of “Proud Mary”, ending on a triumphant note, with the cello lingering under what looks like a stage light. Tina is now available on HBO Max.

— Curtis Perry