Back to Black

Truth, if it were needed, that Lesley Manville can turn her hand to anything, but otherwise this is a rather unremarkable biopic of a woman whose character, I must confess, I didn't actually like very much. She is the nan of Amy (Marisa Abela) and the two have a special bond. Amy lives with her mum who is divorced from her dad Mitch (Eddie Marsan). He fancies himself as a bit of a crooner and she is steeped in jazz, determined to write her own songs and make a success of herself - on her own terms. Enter Nick (Sam Buchanan) who works for music mogul Simon Fuller and she is, after an initial bit of hostility, signed up and on her way. The remainder of the chronology is all pretty straightforward as Sam Taylor-Johnson decides to focus on an e...

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"Back to Black completely fails in adapting Amy Winehouses life to the big screen, falling into common biopic traps, and drowning in them. The film not only disrespectfully omits and revises critical facts from the artists life but also fails to convey the emotional depth of her music and the challenges she faced.

By turning her story into a superficial, cheap version, not even Marisa Abelas remarkable performance can save the horrendous work of Sam Taylor-Johnson and Matt Greenhalgh.

It deserves no recommendation, serving only as an example of what to avoid when adapting the life of a real person to cinema."

Rating: D-

'Back to Black' is not the best.

The opening chunk of the movie, say the first 30-45 minutes, is not good, a very rocky beginning. The introduction to the characters felt unnatural, the spontaneous moments of the lead character (who they make a tiny bit unlikeable at around that point) singing... borderline cringe. I will say, though, from after that the film does improve, funnily enough once the titular track plays I enjoyed this more.

Now for the cast. Marisa Abela is, acting-wise, decent enough, I'm not sold on her likeness to Amy Winehouse but I only really know of the musician minimally in her later years so I could very likely be wrong to question it to be fair. Her accent forced as well, though that could be a similar case as t...