Angela Basset received her first Oscar nomination for playing Anna May Bullock/Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It? Anna goes to live with her mother after her grandmother dies and meets Ike Turner (Laurence Fishbourne), a nightclub singer who discovers that she has a great singing voice and goes on tour with her and soon becomes a superstar. But when Tina begins to come into her own, Ike begins to abuse her and Tina feels trapped in the increasingly violent marriage.
What's Love Got To Do With It? is an average, predictable film but Angela Basset rises above it.Basset does a very good job in the beginning, building Tina's character arc from a shy person who is immediately wooed over by Ike's charms to a confident, talented singer, never making it seem like an imitation. Her scenes with Fishbourne are great, with both actors adding raw emotions to their roles which makes Tina and Ike seem especially real. When Basset performs, she is volcanic- Her presense on stage is a big plus as she feels the songs she's performing as well as performing them. Basset always hits the right emotional cords of Tina and her dramatic moments are brilliantly played and always honest. The material gets repetive towards the end, but she still gives a great, passionate performance which gets
4 comments:
She was okay, but I felt the film got way too repetitive very quickly. I felt most of the film was just her being abused over and over again with very little insight into the savage circle presented.
I see your point, but I thought Basset made the most of the material and delivered a fantastic performance!
I agree with Louis...I feel the movie sort of hits us over the head with the abuse, and Basset performance becomes more of a stunt.
I understand what you mean about Basset being a stunt, but I never thought the movie was too preachy with the domestic abuse scenes. What did you think of Fishbourne?
Post a Comment