Movie Review: Back To Black (2024)

Genre: Musical Biography  

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson  
Starring: Marisa Abela, Jack O'Connell, Eddie Marsan, Lesley Manville  

Running Time: 122 minutes  

Synopsis: In London, teenager Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) comes from a modest working class family and is blessed with a throwback singing voice. She has a close relationship with her grandmother Cynthia (Lesley Manville), while her taxi driver father Mitch (Eddie Marsan) fancies himself a crooner. Amy is more into jazz and writes emotional songs inspired by her addictions to men, booze, weed, and bulimia. On the cusp of success, Amy takes a break from music and falls into a turbulent relationship with bad boy Blake (Jack O'Connell), providing the inspiration to write songs for her next album, Back To Black. 

What Works Well: This impressionistic portrait of a troubled artist succeeds in capturing the fountain of artistry at the intersection of talent, passion, environment, and character. Writer Matt Greenhalgh and director Sam Taylor-Johnson maintain an intense focus on Amy, allowing her to own her success as an uncompromising anachronistic revivalist of jazz music and 1960s glamour, and just as fully embrace all the fault lines of her tragedy: attraction to bad boys, substance abuse, and a wicked temper. With the musical highlights seamlessly weaving through the narrative, Marisa Abela does her own singing and embodies Amy in a hauntingly honest performance punctuated by searing line deliveries. The recreation of early 2000s London fashions adds organic texture.

What Does Not Work As Well: Some of the jumps in time and place are uncoordinated, leaving a few side characters (including Amy's mother and a roommate) stranded. The running time is slightly padded, but the origins of Amy's demonic addictions deserved more attention. 

Key Quote:

Amy: I need to live, my songs.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.