FLAWED LOOK AT A TROUBLED SUPERSTAR
The new Amy Winehouse biopic is a sympathetic portrait of an artist’s descent into addiction, but exhibits many of the drawbacks associated with this genre
How long has the legend of Amy Winehouse dominated recent popular culture? Like many other young, talented artists, her star shone too brightly, and she died in her Camden, north London, flat by accidental alcohol poisoning on July 23 2011 — after years of heavy drug and alcohol addiction.
Now the release of the movie Back to Black gives cinema audiences a never-before-seen glimpse into Winehouse’s early rise to fame and the release of her groundbreaking studio album of the same name.
Painting a vivid picture of the Camden streets she called home and capturing the manifold struggles of global fame, Back to Black celebrates Amy’s artistry, wit and honesty, but also attempts to understand her demons, downfalls and failures.
It presents an unflinching look at the modern celebrity machine, while offering a tribute to a once-in-ageneration talent.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and written by Matt Greenhalgh, the film stars Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse, and features Eddie Marsan as Amy’s father, Mitch Winehouse, and Jack O’Connell as her boyfriend (and later ex-husband) Blake Fielder-Civil.
Back to Black follows Amy’s journey from confident north London teenager to international megastar. In her short existence, she became a music legend, but her troubled personal life often came under intense media scrutiny.
Her on-off relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil and her alcohol and drug addiction problems made for sensational headlines in the tabloid press, and she was relentlessly pursued by paparazzi photographers when she was at her most vulnerable.
“There’s no greater love than the love people have for Amy, whose music has touched their souls and provoked their hearts into feeling that she is theirs and theirs alone. She was a small bird of a woman with the power of a lioness and a voice that transcended our time. Bringing Amy’s story to life has been a privilege. To have had the space to soak in her music, know her heart and bring it all to the big screen is a gift I’m excited to pass along into the world,” said director Sam Taylor-Johnson.
WHAT OTHERS HAD TO SAY
At its best, Back to Black, the forthright and compelling movie that’s been made of Winehouse’s life, takes that light/dark balance and digs into the drama of it, making it sing. The film’s snaky on-and-off power begins with the British actor Marisa Abela, whose lead performance nails Amy Winehouse in every look, mood, utterance and musical expression. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Ultimately, Back to Black is not the damning indictment of the music industry (and Mitch Winehouse) that Asif Kapadia’s Amy was. Given that Winehouse was one of the first stars whose downfall was chronicled on social media as well as in the tabloids, everyone has their own version of events. It doesn’t make her fate seem any less grim. — Shaad D’Souza, The Guardian
All of the usual sins of biopics are committed here — only more so. We rush so quickly from Winehouse’s becardiganed early years to her midnoughties pomp to her alcoholinduced demise that we barely get to know her and those around her. — Peter Hoskin, Daily Mail
Back to Black is a sympathetic — if flawed — attempt to paint a picture of Winehouse in her own intoxicating chaos. — Tori Brazier, Braziermetro.co.uk
A solid performance let down by a script that cherry-picks the facts and ultimately tells us less than we already know. Watch Asif Kapadia’s Amy instead. — Hayley Campbell, Empire Magazine
The film is on circuit now.