Attempting a biopic that can capture the unique soul and intensity of Amy Winehouse is challenging, to say the least. The soulful, tragic blues singer burned hot and flamed out young, leaving behind a string of memorable, anthemic hits. But it’s her personal demons and defiant personality, notably captured in the song “Rehab“, that will stand as her legacy. Hers is not an overwhelmingly big story for director Sam Taylor-Johnson to capture in her film, Back to Black, which works in its favor by giving the stage to an engaging, warm-hearted performance by Marisa Abela.
Taylor-Johnson is infamous as the director of Fifty Shades of Grey, but her first and previous best film was the John Lennon biopic, Nowhere Boy. Similar to that film, Back to Black isn’t necessarily about the music. It’s a personal, focused story about the hard-scrabble life, broken romances, devastating losses, and yes, the drugs, that inspired the emotion behind Amy Winehouse’s music.
But is this the Amy Winehouse story that her fans want? That’s the question I wrestled with while watching Back to Black. It may receive some of the same criticisms as Bob Marley: One Love. It’s undeniably an estate-approved story that rounds away Winehouse’s rough edges a bit, and romanticizes many of her worst faults. It’s also easy to identify with her blue-collar Camden upbringing, with a doting father Mitch (Eddie Marsan) and her grandmother (Lesley Manville) whose devil-may-care attitude and fashion sense Amy would adopt as her own.
Amy’s life is a roller coaster full of moments to cherish and others that tore her down. Most of them have to do with her tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell), who she met during an extended meet-cute at a local pub. To paraphrase a line from a very different award-winning singer, she should’ve known he was trouble when he walked in, buzzing with racetrack winnings and liquid courage. Their first encounter is electric, maybe a touch too sweet, but you can see the moment that Amy falls utterly in love with him. We know theres would be a love that would also burn hot, too hot. He didn’t give a care about her celebrity, which was a nice change of pace…except for his constant fear that she would leave him for someone famous.
Abela has a thankless job attempting to capture Amy Winehouse’s spirit, much less her voice. But she does all of her own vocals, impressively so. She’s no Winehouse, but those who hold that against her are being disingenuous. Nobody is like Winehouse. And that is part of the problem with Back to Black. Taylor-Johnson delivers a well-made, heartfelt love letter to Amy Winehouse, but it doesn’t feel special enough for someone of her talent who made such an indelible mark. I also think we forget how young Amy was at the height of her career and ultimately her death. She was young, lived hard, and made a lot of mistakes that she might not have made later in life. Back to Black is a compassionate take on Amy Winehouse’s life to present the best possible version of her. The irony is that Winehouse herself probably would’ve preferred the straight and ugly truth.
Back to Black opens in theaters on May 17th.
