Back to Black (France/UK/USA, 2024)
May 21, 2024![Back to Black Poster](https://www.reelviews.net/resources/img/posters/thumbs/back_black_poster.jpg)
If the recent spate of bio-pics of musical stars imparts one lesson, it’s this: artists should be remembered for their work not for the Hollywood-ized retellings of their lives. Back to Black is the latest endeavor by the motion picture industry to exhume the story of a dead musician whose ultimately tragic life has been turned into a series of cliches about fame and addiction. It’s an open question about how much of the real Amy Winehouse is to be found in a movie that is obsessed more with her flaws and dependency on alcohol and drugs than about her craft and prowess as a singer/songwriter. Oh, the music is there, but it seems more like a background track than a focal point.
The film covers roughly the period from 2002, when Winehouse (Marisa Abela) signed with Simon Fuller’s 19 Management and ending shortly before her death in 2011 at the age of 27. Back to Black covers most of the key events of her adulthood: her rise to stardom, her tumultuous love affair with eventual husband Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell), and her triumphant Grammy night. Excepting the first half-hour, most of what happens occurs through the haze of an alcoholic stupor (to which she eventually adds drugs). The movie paints Amy as rarely being sober – whether or not this is an exaggeration, it makes for a downer of a movie instead of a more nuanced narrative.
One question that arises when discussing a bio-pic,
especially that of a singer/musician, is whether the lead actor is engaging in
mimicry or giving a good performance. In the case of Marisa Abela, it’s more of
the former. To her credit, she does an excellent job replicating Winehouse’s
vocals (she did most of the singing) and stage presence. However, her attempts
to recreate the singer’s mannerisms in private settings is artificial. Although
there are some intimate moments that work, the portrayal as a whole is
over-the-top and it often feels like Abela is trying too hard. No one else in
the film leaves much of an impression – Jack O’Connell’s Blake and Eddie
Marsan’s Mitch Winehouse are underwritten. Another key figure in Winehouse’s
life and career, Mark Ronson, warrants only a passing mention, which seems odd
to say the least.
Director Sam Taylor-Johnson, whose reputation remains
scarred by Fifty Shades of Grey, seems to want to deconstruct Winehouse
and explore the singer’s darker side. That might have been an interesting
approach if not for two things: Winehouse’s demons were well-recognized during
her life (to the extent that the cause of her death came as a surprise to no
one) and Taylor-Johnson fails to explore how the singer’s alcoholism either
helped or hampered (or both) her ability to create. Even the most bland
bio-pics of musicians (and there are dozens to choose from) spend more than a
perfunctory scene or two on the creative process. That’s the biggest
disappointment here – that Back to Black’s Winehouse is an addict first
and everything else second.
As for the music, we get full renditions of Winehouse’s biggest hits but there are times when it seems the songs are included to (a) sell a soundtrack and (b) because, like Priscilla, the movie would feel unbalanced without them. My reaction is that I could learn a lot more about Winehouse by listening to her music than by watching this by-the-numbers sketch of her adult life.
Back to Black (France/UK/USA, 2024)
Cast: Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan, Lesley Manville, Juliet Cowan, Sam Buchanan
Screenplay: Matt Greenhalgh
Cinematography: Polly Morgan
Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
U.S. Distributor: Focus Features
U.S. Release Date: 2024-05-17
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Drugs, Sexual Content, Nudity)
Genre: Drama
Subtitles: none
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- (There are no more better movies of Marisa Abela)
- (There are no more worst movies of Marisa Abela)
- Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
- Ferrari (2023)
- (There are no more better movies of Jack O’Connell)
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