Back to Black

Back to Black

The extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black that catapulted Winehouse to global fame. Told through Amy’s eyes and inspired by her deeply personal lyrics, the film explores and embraces the many layers of the iconic artist and the tumultuous love story at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 122 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, Music
  • Stars: Marisa Abela, Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan, Jack O'Connell, Juliet Cowan, Bronson Webb, Ansu Kabia, Harley Bird, Michael S. Siegel, Matilda Thorpe, Jeff Tunke, Ryan O'Doherty, Izaak Cainer, Tracey Lushington, Sam Buchanan
  • Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
 Comments
  • castinggal-44753 - 26 June 2024
    Brilliant Biopic
    One of the best biopics I've seen in a while. Brilliantly done and shows the lost girl who lived inside the superstar. Amy Winehouse was a true genius and this film does her justice. I'm confused about all the critics who dislike it saying there were things excluded and my response is: This is a biopic. They had 2 hours in which to encapsulate her life. Obviously they can't put in everything. No biopic does. But it does tell her story well and show the free spirit that she was. Marisa Abela is phenomenal - you think you're watching Winehouse. In the old days she would have won an Oscar for sure. Fully recommend this movie.
  • arkblue - 9 June 2024
    Not bad, not great either
    Having been an Amy fan, watched multiple docs about her life, this was something of a let down. Maybe for people that don't know much, it would be ok.

    It was a delight to see some of the early years of her life and the extremely close relationship she had with her Nan. And while Marisa Abela has a lovely voice, she doesn't come close to approach the richness and grit that Amy had. There was a tragic darkness to Amy, even as a teenager, and that just does not come thru.

    I am also curious if her family worked closely on this film project. They portray her dad as being caring. And while I won't pretend to understand their family, everything I'd ever seen, he didn't seem as concerned with her growing addiction issues. The father was depicted in a much more water down, caring, doting, type.

    The timeline was a bit problematic too, and it was not clear at times where Amy was at in life, and at some moments it was flat out wrong.

    Like my title says, not bad, not great either.
  • saolivaresm - 2 June 2024
    AMY DESERVED SOMETHING MUCH BOLDER
    One of the great artists of our times who became a legend at such a young age is what charts Amy Winehouse's musical career. That is why the jump to the cinema about her life generated quite a desire to discover how they would be able to lead a life full of excesses and falls to the cinema. The result is a film that serves to entertain and portray the artist in a superficial way, which means that we do not have a film as profound as one might think, especially if we take into account that we have two documentaries in tow that reflect more deeply. Amy's life. What one can value about the film is the performance of Marisa Abela who makes a presence and takes the opportunity to shine in Amy's skin. The intensity and personality of the singer, the actress manages to mark her in a good way and generates the power of her in moments of seeing the singer again. In every look, mood and note, the actress achieves her goal and her recognition of a great performance. We are left with the feeling of being faced with a drama that is too cautious, it avoids saying anything really illuminating and rather at times it tries to whitewash quite a few events in the lives of those who surrounded the singer in her rise to fame, which means that we have a script very superficial that it deprives us of the possibility of truly immersing ourselves in the most radical feelings of a woman who succumbed to addictions. In any case, it is a film that entertains and fills us with music and the depth of the singer's lyrics. It could have been much better, but in no case is it a film that you will end up hating. An English-style biopic about one of her stars that we miss every day.

    Content collapsed.
  • Rabutops - 30 May 2024
    Feels Made For TV and Amy Deserved Better
    I'm conflicted by this film, which looks and feels more like an episode in a television series than a $30 million film.

    There are moments of truly brilliant performance from the lead actress, but it's broken up by awkward editing; real interview footage that cuts to Marisa sitting in front of a green screen every time the real Amy Winehouse was in frame, for example. Or the way they use both Amy Winehouse's original vocals as well as Marisa attempting to replicate Amy's vocals in the same song. To be clear, Marisa does a great job vocally, she's not the problem... The problem is the film chooses to use Amy's original vocals for part of the song, sometimes alternate takes to the versions we're familiar with which makes you think, wow this girl sounds exactly like Amy, and then the next line is actually Marisa's vocals and it's jarring because the two sing from totally different places, it makes the film feel clunky and it takes you out of the scene every time it happens.

    Another issue is the way the film tries to retcon reality, Amy died 13 years ago and has always remained relevant in pop culture, so to take bits and pieces of her life and completely rearrange them to fit the narrative of this two hour film felt unnecessary and disingenuous. Amy was a lot more than the sugary sweet daddy's girl turn blackout drunk that the film portrays her as. It just feels exploitative, Marisa's performance aside, Amy deserved better.