Established 1961 13 Lifestyle Features Thursday, March 4, 2021

usic legend Tina Turner is the sub- years and rejecting her depiction as a ject of one of the most successful “victim” in it. ‘Bow out slowly’ Mbiopics ever made but a new doc- Given the rigid race-linked radio cate- umentary sees her confront her demons Pack places like the Stones’ gories of pop and R&B in America, Turner in her own voice. “Tina” by Oscar-winning In the documentary, she explains that and her Australian manager Roger Davies directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin pre- the reason she decided to come forward decided she should relaunch her career miered Tuesday at the Berlin film festival. in the 1980s about her years of physical, from Europe. Turner got the last laugh It traces Turner’s six-decade career as an emotional and sexual abuse by Ike was with her 1984 album, “Private Dancer”, unlikely triumph over abuse and discrimi- that even after the split, interviewers insist- which sold millions of copies worldwide nation. Paired with a musical about her ed on asking her about their partnership. and included her first major solo single that had its Broadway premiere in 2019 “After all the success I have had, people “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, a song until the pandemic shut it down, the film is were still talking about Ike and Tina,” she she says she “hated” at first until she billed as the 81-year-old Turner’s farewell said. “I wasn’t interested in telling that “made it my own”. “I don’t consider to her fans while introducing her to a “new ridiculously embarrassing story of my life. ‘Private Dancer’ a comeback album,” she generation”. But I felt that’s one way I could get the said. “Tina had never arrived, it was Tina’s The documentary includes emotional journalists off my back.” Winfrey calls debut and this was my first album.” interviews with the singer in which she Turner a trailblazer in speaking out about She retired from touring in 2008 and recounts her childhood of grinding pover- her trauma at a time when it was still rare This file photo taken on July 9, 1987 shows US This file photo taken on May 31, 2012 shows near the end of the film, a frail-looking ty picking cotton in the Tennessee fields, in the entertainment industry. singer Tina Turner performing during a concert US singer Tina Turner poses on the red carpet Turner is seen attending the musical her performing debut with violent hus- “Nobody talked about sexual abuse, in Annecy, France. — AFP photos for a fashion show in Beijing. about her life. “I should be proud of that, I band Ike Turner and her lonely years physical abuse, domestic abuse, abuse am,” Turner says, fighting back tears as even as the world’s top female rock star. period,” said Winfrey, who survived slay them and it’s an everyday challenge,” Martin said Turner was long “fetishised she bids “goodbye” to her fans from her Friends weigh in including Oprah Winfrey, molestation as a child. “Our generation is director Martin told AFP. The documen- or looked over” and had to fight to “fully home in Zurich. “But what do you do to “I, Tina” biographer Kurt Loder and the generation that started to break the tary spotlights the obstacles Turner had to have ownership of her own identity”. “The stop being proud? How do you bow out Angela Bassett, who was nominated for silence.” Even today, Turner still has flash- surmount to become a stadium-filling sex number of times she reinvented herself slowly, just go away?” “Tina” will screen an Oscar for her portrayal of Turner in the backs of being beaten. “That scene symbol as a Black middle-aged woman. and stayed relevant is more testament to internationally in select cinemas and on 1993 blockbuster “What’s Love Got to Do comes back, you’re dreaming, the real “I had a dream: my dream is to be the first Tina’s perseverance and power,” co- streaming services this summer. — AFP with It”. Turner was famously critical of the picture’s there-it’s like a curse,” she said. Black rock’n’roll singer to pack places like director Lindsay said. “She’s always look- movie, refusing to watch it for several “She slayed her dragons and continues to the (Rolling) Stones,” she said. ing forward.”

Reggae icon Bunny Wailer

cclaimed film director Spike Lee is making a documentary Solo career ctor Daniel Bruehl called on some Afor HBO charting New York’s In this file photo German actor Daniel Bruehl After leaving the band in 1974, Wailer of his more “humiliating” Hollywood recovery from the 9/11 terror attacks poses during a photocall for the film “7 Days in went on to enjoy a prolific solo career as a experiences for the black comedy through to the coronavirus pandem- A Entebbe” presented in competition during the writer, producer and singer of what is per- “Next Door”, his directorial debut premier- ic, WarnerMedia announced 68th Berlinale film festival in Berlin. — AFP haps Jamaica’s best known export. He Monday. The multi-part documen- ing in competition at this week’s Berlinale drew much praise for his album “Blackheart tary will be released to commemo- film festival. The German-Spanish Bruehl, ences in which I felt ridiculous and humili- Man,” which included the song “Burning rate the 20th anniversary later this who shot to fame aged 25 with the bitter- ated,” he said. “I mean being sent a Down Sentence,” which drew on Wailer’s year of the coordinated Al-Qaeda sweet Berlinale contender “Good Bye, page where everything is watermarked experience doing a one-year prison sen- attack on the World Trade Center Lenin!”, is now himself up for the Golden and blurred and then you have three lines Bear top prize Friday at an event that has eggae icon Bunny Wailer, who co- tence for marijuana possession. “The tracks that killed almost 3,000 people. and don’t have any context and people founded The Wailers with Bob that were done in ‘Blackheart Man’ were “With over 200 interviews, we dig gone all-virtual due to the pandemic. expect you to pull off some magic per- Marley in the 1960s and helped very symbolic and significant to this whole deep into what makes NYC the Since his early success, Bruehl, now 42, formance and you think like ‘what the f**k, R has starred in hits including “Rush”, TV make the catchy Jamaican beat a global development of reggae music,” Wailer told greatest city on this God’s earth and what is this?’” phenomenon, died on Tuesday. He was Reggaeville in 2017. “I really consider also the diverse citizens who make it series “The Alienist” and the “Captain 73. No cause of death was given. but the ‘Blackheart Man’ to be one of those albums so,” said Lee, who is producing and America” franchise. ‘Ich bin kein Berliner’ Jamaican culture ministry said Wailer had that the universal reggae world should be directing the project. WarnerMedia “Next Door” (Nebenan) tells the story of Bruehl called it “a very purging, been hospitalized in Kingston since focused on,” Wailer said. Fans in his home- said in a statement the documentary Daniel, a preening German-Spanish actor cleansing experience for me to show this December. Wailer, who was born Neville town of Kingston mourned Wailer’s death would offer “an unprecedented, played by Bruehl who like the director humiliating aspect finally in a movie”. But Livingstone in the Nine Mile district, where Tuesday. sweeping portrait of New Yorkers as himself lives in a gentrified district of he admitted to being a little afraid of biting Marley also came from, suffered a stroke in “Bunny had a big impact on me, and I they rebuild and rebound, from a Berlin and is up for a role in a major the hand that feeds him with his savage 2018 and another in July of last year. He would love for some of the younger folks to devastating terrorist attack through superhero movie. On his way to the air- satire. “Someone like (Marvel president) was the last surviving original member of listen to his message,” 54-year-old clerk the ongoing global pandemic.” port, he stops in at one of the German Kevin Feige-he has a great sense of the Wailers. Marley died of cancer in 1981, Devon Cole said. “My favorite song from capital’s traditional corner pubs to humor. That’s something I like about and Peter Tosh was murdered in 1987. him was ‘Blackheart Man.’” And Neil rehearse his lines. Marvel. So I hope that when these guys Wailer, who was a childhood friend of Parchment in nearby St. Catherine said see the movie they understand the joke,” Marley, won three Grammys over the Wailer “put (Jamaica) on the map.” “We ‘Vain and narcissistic’ he said. He sought inspiration from the course of his career, and in 2017, he was give God thanks for blessing us with that tal- Trying to understand his character’s Coen brothers and fellow actor-turned- awarded Jamaica’s Order of Merit, one of ent and blessing the world with that talent.” “motivation”, Daniel frantically calls Marvel director Julie Delpy for the wild shifts in the country’s highest honors. Wailer, a Rastafarian like Marley, won the executives begging them for more pages mood in the movie, which was written by “We remain grateful for the role that Grammy for best Reggae album three times of the top-secret screenplay so he can bestselling German author Daniel Bunny Wailer played in the development in the 1990s. Tributes to Wailer poured in better prepare. Daniel practices the Kehlmann. and popularity of Reggae music across Tuesday. “In my view, Bunny Wailer was a ridiculous dialogue with a familiar Marvel Bruehl, who grew up in the western comics growl while watched by Bruno, a the world,” Culture Minister Olivia Grange more potent musician than even Bob In this file photo US director Spike Lee German city of Cologne but whose par- mysterious local sitting at the bar who said in a statement. “We remember with Marley,” said Karyl Walker, a veteran arrives for the 92nd Oscars at the Dolby ents live in Barcelona, has called Berlin’s soon reveals he knows more about great pride how Bunny, Bob Marley and Jamaican entertainment journalist. “He Theatre in Hollywood, California. — AFP now upscale Prenzlauer Berg district Peter Tosh took Reggae music to the four played instruments, more than one, and he Daniel’s life than he should. Bruno is a home since the early 2000s. He said he corners of the earth,” Grange added. wrote very good songs.” It added that the documentary native East Berliner who doesn’t take wanted to take on the ongoing friction Marley and Tosh acted as The Wailers’ Walker noted that the wildly popular line will be released “later this year,” kindly to the wealthy newcomers who between rich and poor in Berlin as well as primary singers and songwriters, but dance song “Electric Boogie” from 1983 without specifying a date. It will air have moved into the area and driven up easterners and westerners three decades Wailer played a key role in providing har- was written by Wailer. “Now all the Wailers on HBO and its streaming service prices, and he’s immune to Daniel’s after the Wall fell. “I was privileged to be monies and percussion to the trio’s songs, are dead and it is incumbent on the HBO Max. Lee earlier made a docu- attempts to charm him. Their small talk rather successful as a young man being according to Rolling Stone magazine. younger Jamaican entertainers to raise the mentary for HBO on Hurricane turns combative, then sinister as Bruno an actor,” he said. “But no matter where I “The Wailers are responsible for the bar and carry on this rich legacy,” Walker Katrina. “When the Levees Broke” shows the unctuous Daniel who actually went, I always felt like an invader, be it in Wailers sound. Bob, Peter, and myself: told AFP. “We have lost an icon,” added was released in 2006. “(W)e treas- has the upper hand. Prenzlauer Berg or in Barcelona where I We are totally responsible for the Wailers Herbie Harris, a keyboard player and vocal- ure Spike’s singular capacity to Despite the obvious parallels, Bruehl found an apartment in 2010.” He said that sound, and what the Wailers brought to ist who now leads The ATF band. Artistic chronicle and pay tribute to the joked, “I’m a vain and narcissistic man but even today, Berlin can still give him that the world, and left as a legacy,” Wailer director of Jamaica’s Nexus Performing Arts human toll of these historic events I’m not as horrible as the guy we see in fish-out-of-water feeling. “Even after 20 told Afropop in 2016. Company Hugh Douse also called Wailer while bearing profound witness to the movie”. He told AFP he wanted “Next years, there’s certain encounters that I The band’s debut album on a major an “icon.” “He will be missed,” Douse said. the strength and resiliency of the Door” to tackle both the transformation of have where I truly feel, ‘Ich bin kein label, “Catch a Fire,” released in 1973, “One of the best ways we can pay tribute to human spirit,” said Lisa Heller and Berlin, where rents have increased more Berliner’ (I’m not a Berliner).”— AFP helped propel the group to international Bunny Wailer is to listen to the words of Nancy Abraham, HBO’s co-heads than 75 percent over the last decade, and fame. At one point, that record was ranked warning and encouragement that he gives of documentary films. — AFP the occasional silliness of the entertain- 126th on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest to those who have been downpressed and ment industry. “I’m making fun of all the Albums list. The band’s biggest hits dispossessed.” —AFP (movie) projects, all the ones that I really include “Simmer Down” and “One Love.” loved doing. But I also had some experi-

asks Alma if she will test out the man- the driving forces between a recent ren- machine for three weeks and then report aissance of German entertainment that ‘Unorthodox’ back on her customer satisfaction. has captured audiences across the Like any romantic comedy heroine, world. “Unorthodox” about a woman who Alma is reluctant and skeptical at first, fled her ultra-Orthodox home in New director charms especially as Tom has a habit of deliver- York for Berlin was one of Netflix’s ing corny pick-up lines about the “deep biggest hit series of last year, and pools of her eyes”. Although he can Schrader starred in the wildly popular dance a mean rumba, he’s also unfortu- “Deutschland 83/86/89” series. Berlin fest with nately incapable of understanding the The Berlinale, which features new humor Alma sees in slapstick YouTube movies from around the globe, has videos. But as they spend more time with selected an unusual four homegrown robot love story each other, his algorithms become more pictures for the competition, including finely tuned to Alma’s tastes and desires, Daniel Bruehl’s directorial debut “Next ironing out the flaws that doomed her Door” which premiered Monday to rave northodox” director Maria past relationships. reviews. Scott Roxborough, European Schrader on Monday pre- This combination of file photos shows German actress Maren In this file photo German bureau chief for The Hollywood “Umiered her sci-fi comedy “I’m ‘My silly heart’ Eggert (left) posing for photographers during a photocall at actress and director Maria Reporter, said German movies and Your Man” starring Downton Abbey’s Schrader said she was interested in the 69th Berlinale film festival, and British actor Dan Stevens Schrader poses after the 30th shows were finally coming into their Dan Stevens as a robot ready to beat turning the “dangerous” aspects of such posing on arrival for the Three Empire awards in London. European Film Awards cere- own, by being willing to play around human rivals in the game of love. The Frankenstein tales on their head. “We’re —AFP photos mony in Berlin. with genres like sci-fi, thrillers and Emmy winner’s soulful futurist romp is of course marked by the stories that go romantic comedies. “It’s not just long one of 15 contenders for the Golden differently, that end in destruction and for his opposite number,” Schrader said. Saga”. “We can look for all the rational shots of emptiness and people dis- Bear top prize Friday at the 71st Berlin fighting and the machine taking on a life Stevens, who was also a co-producer reasons why we should be with (some- cussing philosophy,” Roxborough said, film festival, which has gone all-virtual of its own,” she told an online news con- on the film, said the quest for love one) and we can tick the checklist of poking fun at stereotypical German pre- due to the pandemic. “I’m Your Man” ference. “Tom just wants to know how he against the odds was a “very human things. But actually going back through- occupations. “It’s a new generation of (Ich bin dein Mensch) sees Stevens, who can make Alma happy.” And Tom is not question”. “I think one of the reasons that out human history, all of our romantic sto- German directors coming up that is will- is British, use his fluent German to play only the better lover than the suitors who we keep coming back to stories like ries are ‘I can’t love her, I shouldn’t love ing to do things a bit differently, that are Tom, a remarkably lifelike Romeo cus- came before him. “Alma senses that Tom this... is that love is so irrational,” said her, oh but I do-against my silly heart, willing to be exciting, not just politically tom-designed to win the heart of Berlin might just be the better person: he’s Stevens, who has starred in unconven- this is how I feel’.” correct.”— AFP antiquities researcher Alma (Maren more civilised, free of aggression and his tional romances before-from “Beauty and Eggert). A company that has developed own ambitions, altruistic and has the the Beast” to last year’s Netflix comedy ‘Willing to be exciting’ humanoids for discerning lonely hearts greatest and most loving attentiveness “Eurovision Song Contest: The Fire Director-actress Schrader is one of