Review: Back to Black (2024)
45%
Reviewer Flickchart ranking: 3,024 / 5,477
13 years after her death, and 9 years after the revered and Oscar-winning documentary Amy, comes the dramatic biopic of celebrated singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. Back to Black, helmed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (director of Fifty Shades of Grey and the John Lennon coming-of-age biopic Nowhere Boy) zooms in on Winehouse’s relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil and their battles with substance abuse.
We are dropped into Amy’s (Marisa Abela) family life as a young woman in Camden. We see the power and influence jazz music has in their lives. Taylor-Johnson introduces us quickly to the mesmerizing quality and stunning maturity in Winehouse’s voice. Taylor-Johnson introduces us to Winehouse’s father, Mitch (Eddie Marsen), her seemingly troubled mother, brother, her beloved paternal grandmother (Lesley Manville), and a few others. Other than Mitch and her nan, all of these characters are summarily forgotten. Rather rapidly the film whisks us through the creation and release of Winehouse’s first professional album, Frank. The film finally decides to settle into a story when Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell) arrives and flirts with Amy in a pub.
The remaining hour and half of the film revolves around Winehouse’s infatuation with Fielder-Civil and their mutually destructive behaviors and addictions. None too subtly, Back to Black spends much of its visual weight in highlighting Amy’s addictive personality, whether it is close-ups of chain smoking, ensuring each bit of alcohol is in-frame, or finally the move toward harder substances. Abela’s performance is stunning. She inhabits Winehouse and gives one of the most transformative pop-star turns since Rami Malek’s stint as Freddie Mercury. However, Tayor-Johnson’s film does not achieve depth to match the performance. Rather, the film becomes entirely mired in repetitive sequences of Winehouse being drunk, high, waking up on a floor, etc.
Back to Black attempts to tie in the songs on the album to the actions on the screen. It’s somewhat haphazard, but it’s effective at times. However, the movie is never willing to take a risk, to dive deep into why any of this is happening. Amy just drinks because there are drinks to drink. Fielder-Civil likes drugs because drugs are there. And together they swirl, with some manipulative blame placed at Fielder-Civil’s feet, some perfunctory condemnation of British tabloid culture, all while Amy’s father is looks helplessly on.
With performances that often rise above the material, the characterizations in Back to Black are left undesigned and ultimately become little more than tropes about the cautionary tale of fame and indulgence. There’s not even much celebration of Winehouse; instead Taylor-Johnson crafts a dirge. The movie avoids searching for what drew millions to connect so passionately to Amy’s artistry, and instead sees her merely as a talented addict. Nevertheless, for Winehouse fans Abela’s portrayal of the brilliant singer is a worthwhile experience.