My Review of Back To Black (2024)

 

Written by Matt Greenhalgh

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson

Amy (to herself): "I want people to hear my voice and just forget their troubles for five minutes. I want to be remembered for being a singer for sell-out concerts and sell-out West End and Broadway shows. For just being me."

Like many people in the 2000s, I was a massive fan of Amy Winehouse (still am, btw) and like a lot of people in general, I can be wary of biopics. They're not always done with the best intentions or outcome and sometimes, personal bias can overly influence things.

This biopic does somewhat fall into those categories as we're given a very on the nose narration from Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) about wanting her music to have true meaning. There's no doubt that Winehouse herself was being absolutely sincere upon saying that, but still, it's not exactly subtle.

Anyways the movie opened with a family gathering where Amy's closeness towards her nana Cynthia (Leslie Manville) was on display along with a strained relationship with her father, Mitch (Eddie Marsden). There's also a nice scene with her mother, Janis (Juliet Cowen) before the real meat and bone of the movie kicked into gear.

Yes, I'm talking about her music career and being signed on to Island Records. Amy didn't want to be a Spice Girl and made it clear that she had to live her songs. Between hit albums like Frank and Back To Black she definitely did, especially when she got romantically involved with Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O'Connell).

In the press, we saw how volatile and destructive Amy's romance and eventual marriage to Blake truly was. We saw her spiral into alcohol and hardcore drugs but this movie does take an oddly more sympathetic look at Blake than expected at times. Even to the point where he demanded a divorce in order to break the destructive cycle between himself and Amy.

As for Amy's tragic death, it's never depicted on screen and I'm actually fine with that. While the movie did examine a lot of her lows, it also depicted her attempts of sobriety and admitting that she was an addict as well as her accomplishments as a musician. Not to mention the positive impact she had on a young girl in one particular.

In terms of casting, Marisa Abela certainly had a task on her. For the most part, she's very good as Amy but there were times when I was aware I was watching an actor and the singing isn't totally there. Saying that, I do think the performance was overall better than expected and done respectfully too.

- Both Blake and Cynthia were the ones to influence Amy's iconic beehive look, moreso Cynthia though.

- I definitely laughed when one of Amy's exes realised he inspired a certain song of hers and he didn't take it very well.

- Standout music: Recreations of Stronger Than Me, Fuck Me Pumps, Valerie, Rehab, Back To Black and Tears Dry On Their Own.

- Chronology: Early 2000s in Camden Town leading to Amy's death on July 2011.

I came in with very wary expectations of Back To Black and while I definitely think a better biopic could've been made, it was a decent enough attempt. Marisa Abela did well with the performance and it gets points for trying to be balanced instead of salacious. 

Rating: 7 out of 10