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Movie Review: The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile

Mike Tyrkus

Following decades of seemingly forgotten greatness, trailblazing country music legend Tanya Tucker is thrust back into the spotlight when her new album, written and produced by Brandi Carlile, sparks one of the greatest comebacks in the history of country music. All of this is chronicled in the riveting, and often inspiring, documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile.

The film tells the story of Tucker’s meteoric rise and, occasionally, hazardous road back to the top using rare archival footage and photographs and contemporary scenes filmed during the creation of her new album. But what really brings the whole endeavor to life is the affinity that Carlile has for Tucker and her music. That proves infectious and sooner than you might think, you find yourself enthralled by the subject of the film and rooting for the album to be a success, even if you weren’t already a fan.

Director Kathlyn Horan does a remarkable job of not only chronicling Tucker’s life, the creation of the new album, but also the friendship that develops between Carlile and Tucker through their collaboration. It is an endearing and powerful testament to the notion that if someone creative is given the chance to be such and is believed in by those surrounding them, then great things can be created.

Tanya Tucker (left) and Brandi Carlile in “The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile.” Jessica Young/Motto Pictures.

Culminating with a performance honoring the late Loretta Lynn (before her passing), the film delivers on the promise of a triumphant return to the spotlight for one of country music’s more flamboyant and original superstars.

Although The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile may not shed considerable light on the machinations of the country music industry or focus on the finer details of Tucker’s life, it is an entertaining and emotionally satisfying examination of her life that proves to be an uplifting piece of work all around.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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