Heart enough to cover Texas and the songs to match

ORIGINAL CIN: I’m Wanita is a combination of country-star biography, international road picture, and an authentic country musical the kind not seen since Robert Altman’s Nashville.

(Wanita would prefer a comparison to Coal Miner’s Daughter, which is also accurate). Wanita Bahtiyar is the “Australian Queen of Honky Tonk,” or so she has dubbed herself. Wanita is difficult, a drinker, a former sex worker, foul-mouthed, and easily thrown off her game. And with her best years behind her, the chances of Wanita fulfilling her dreams to become a country star seems unlikely. Plus, Wanita is cursed with an insatiable need to help others before helping herself. But despite self-doubts—frequently confirmed by her needy but loving Turkish cowboy husband—Wanita is determined to find success in America. I’m Wanita is filled with music, surprises, comedy, and affection; a satisfying, carefully cut gem of a film with a heart enough to cover Texas and the songs to match. And I don’t even particularly care for country music.

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