Movie Review: Back to Black

While some may approach the new film Back to Black expecting a lurid tale of a talented performer’s descent into addiction and eventual death, they would be wise to learn that the film is more of a celebration of the talent that it’s subject – Amy Winehouse – had and a lovingly crafted ode to remembering that talent.

Telling the story of Winehouse’s somewhat meteoric rise to fame and the making of her album Back to Black, the film draws from the personal lyrics from her phenomenal album to tell Winehouse’s tale from her own perspective.

Working from a script by Matt Greenhalgh – with whom she last collaborated in 2009 on Nowhere Boy – director Sam Taylor-Johnson, weaves a pseudo-whimsical tale of incredible creativity and talent stopped dead in its tracks. The approach taken here though, tells Winehouse’s story as though the tragedy is being perpetrated upon her and is not necessarily of her own doing. That, some may find, a bit disingenuous, but this is a story told from the artist’s perspective and, as such, should be seen as less of a warts-and-all story and more of a romantic version of such a story. While the film has its darker moments, they are not to be dwelled upon and the whole plays more as a celebration of Winehouse’s talent and character than as a biographical exposé.

As Winehouse, Marisa Abela is the soul of the film as she appears to inhabit the character both on and off stage. Similarly, Jack O’Connell’s Blake seems to genuinely be in love with Winehouse – that is, until he isn’t – inspiring her songwriting. Lesley Manville’s turn as Winehouse’s inspirational grandmother and Eddie Marsan’s work as Amy’s father, are the other highlights of the film.

Marisa Abela in “Back to Black.” Photo by Courtesy of Focus Features/Courtesy of Focus Features – © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The film is afforded a production design by Sarah Greenwood that is showcased by Polly Morgan’s cinematography giving the film a classical look highlighting the working-class roots that Winehouse finds herself climbing out of. This all plays well with the less “tabloid” driven approach the movie could have taken. Again, this is a story about an artist and her singular great achievement during a sadly abbreviated career, but the film plays this more matter of fact than as tragedy, leaving that interpretation up to the viewer instead.

Although Back to Black may not prove to be the tell-all biography of Amy Winehouse that many may expect, it is a lovingly told story of an extremely talented and troubled young woman who undeniably made her mark on the world during the all-too-brief time she was a upon it.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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