Film review: ‘BACK TO BLACK’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

Amy Winehouse was sadly one of those mercurial music talents taken from the world much too young; in fact, at the ill-fated age of 27.  Her 2007 album Back To Black, which combined classic soulful torch songs and swaggering upbeat jazzy numbers was one of the decade’s finest.  The 2000’s arguably represented a second ‘Cool Britannia’ in music with the likes of The Arctic Monkeys, the Libertines and of course Amy Winehouse. Even before her extremely untimely death, her life seemed more iconic than these other Brits and possibly anyone in pop culture at the time, such was the potent combination of raw talent and apparent drama that defined her life. Back To Black the film attempts to see beyond that rock star public persona to the vulnerable person beneath as it dramatises her life around the recording of the album and particularly her tumultuous relationship with boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil.

Before the release of Back To Black, many fans seemed worried a dramatised version of Amy’s life was unnecessary (especially given the comprehensive Oscar winning documentary Amy) and might exploit the trainwreck perception of her garnered from the tabloids.  Some fan trepidation is justified but not for the reason’s they might have thought.  In this heartfelt biopic, directed by Fifty Shades of Grey’s Sam Taylor-Johnson, an impressively forthright central performance from Marisa Abela as Amy and some of those magnificent songs (mostly sung by Abela), only just manage to distract us from some glaring script issues and an extremely rushed timeline that fails to give proper shape to Amy’s music career.

Here, Marisa Abela plays Amy roughly from the age of 18 to 27, turning from hopeful Camden nightclub jazz singer to superstar with her multi-Grammy award winning album Back To Black. While on the cusp of fame she meets the laddish Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell) and seems taken with his geezer confidence.  After a whirlwind romance and marriage, their relationship falters and Amy struggles to control the drinking and drug taking that had become part of her life.

Music biopics often have trouble turning their subject’s life into a clear and compelling narrative, frequently sacrificing vital parts of their stories in ways that severely irk fans.  This is a major problem here.  One minute Amy’s playing a small pub gig, the next she’s the record company’s hottest property and with barely a recording studio in sight, she’s created the Back to Black album.  There’s almost no sense of the songs’ development or the vital role of producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings in their recording.  All we really learn is that the songs apparently reflect aspects of her relationship with Blake and some of the events swirling around her life at the time.

Given these script problems this film could have badly faltered but thankfully, Marisa Abela gives a terrific performance that holds the movie together.  She delivers more than an impersonation, convincingly and affectingly depicting someone with a vulnerable, volatile, passionate and at times self-destructive nature.  She can obviously sing as her versions of Amy’s classic songs are mostly excellent.  We don’t learn any more about Amy than we already knew from the documentary but Abela presents a fully formed character that captures her energy, candour and that superb singing voice rather than a collection of tics.

O’Connell is also impressive as Blake portraying a slightly more nuanced character than some might have expected.  He’s certainly no hero, the film implies that he introduced Amy to hard drugs like cocaine but suggests that it was him who tried to get them both to reform; admittedly he’s in prison for assault at the time in the movie.  O’Connell manages to imbue him with sympathetic touches showing flickers of uncertainty breaking through his ‘Jack the lad’ bravado as well as a few funny moments.  There’s also strong support from Eddie Marsden as Amy’s dad Mitch who comes across as a more sympathetic figure here than in the documentary and Lesley Manville as Amy’s beloved Aunt Cynthia who acts as a young Amy’s mentor and confidante.  Cynthia sounds worthy of a film herself having been a singer who apparently knew people like Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett.

Despite some scathing reviews, Back to Black is no better or worse than the standard rock biopic.  It has some compelling moments and a strong central performance but its flaws will likely see it disappoint hardcore Amy fans.

Nick’s rating: ***

Genre: Drama/ Biopic.

Classification: MA15+.

Director(s): Sam Taylor-Johnson.

Release date: 11th Apr 2024.

Running time: 122 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

 

Related Posts:

tagged with , , , , , , , , ,