Fifty years into her career, Tanya Tucker hates the word “comeback.” With over 20 studio albums and a roguish outlaw image to her name, Tucker’s carefree, defiant spirit continues to inspire musicians both within and outside the country music scene. Kathlyn Horan’s documentary captures this influence only in the most surface-level fashion. Aptly titled “The Return of Tanya Tucker,” Horan’s doc sprouted from a spur-the-moment invitation to film the creation of Tucker’s album “While I’m Livin’,” a project curated by singer-songwriter-activist Brandi Carlile.
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Consequently, the documentary’s preparation-deprived foundation cannot help but reveal itself as the film’s premiere defect. Despite admiration for its subject, in both presentation and revelation, “The Return of Tanya Tucker” boasts the emotional weight of a behind-the-scenes featurette, a supplementary document employed to expound upon a superior accompanying work (in this case, subject).
Structurally, Horan’s film divides its attention between Tucker and Carlile’s formative in-studio sessions and post-creation rollout. Although the documentary disregards exploration altogether—the film’s forthright flaw is that it merely documents events but forgoes exploration—the studio sessions manage to prompt a handful of entertaining anecdotes, primarily stemming from Carlile’s euphoric hero worship and Tucker’s humorous yarns. Witnessing the two temporally divergent—but emotionally identical—icons collaborating and encouraging each other powers the film’s worry-free atmosphere but only emphasizes the reality that “The Return of Tanya Tucker” strives to accomplish very little.
Despite Carlile’s desire to introduce Tucker’s music—both past and present—to a fresh demographic, the same cannot be said for the documentary. ‘The Return’ does little to enlighten newcomers, stitching together a tawdry mixture of archival footage and interviews — a stylistically uninspired synopsis of the musician’s childhood, experiences in the industry, and clashes with tabloid exploitation — before halting in its tracks. This approach renders the film’s portrait of Tucker meagerly informative in function and undistinguished creatively. Employed as the film’s recurring thematic motif, ‘The Return’ plants Tucker’s ballad “Bring My Flowers Now” at its heart, hoping to rouse an impassioned appreciation for Tucker’s influence on country music from the audience.
Although Tucker’s talent escapes from the film unscathed — certainly unharmed, but not enhanced — it’s by no means due to the documentary’s efforts. Comparable to the likes of “Nothing Compares” — the Sinéad O’Connor documentary helmed by Kathryn Ferguson — “The Return of Tanya Tucker” never overcomes a fan-focused veneration of its subject to appropriately analyze, critique, or reveal her distinctive genius.
As a documentary, Horan’s film divulges only the barest essentials necessary for viewers to depart from the doc with an increased awareness of Tucker’s existence. Artistically, in addition to disregarding visual language entirely, ‘The Return’ does not harness any grasp of atmosphere or boast a centralized creative voice. As opposed to the legacies and creative endeavors of Tanya Tucker and Brandi Carlile themselves, “The Return of Tanya Tucker” will likely not stand the test of time. The creative vision necessary to properly chronicle the impact of two musical icons never presents itself and thoroughly undermines the film’s resonance, deforming the movie into a prosaic, excessively sentimental catalog of events. [C-]
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