Back To Black

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  • Marisa Abela, Eddie Marsan, Lesley Manville, Jack O'Connell
  • Sam Taylor-Johnson
  • April 12th 2024
Follow the life and music of Winehouse, who started out as a jazz singer to eventually become a Grammy-winning music superstar. Her life would eventually be cut short in 2011 at age 27 after a long battle with alcohol and drugs
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Our Review

Back to Black

Verdict: Sam Taylor-Johnson's biopic doesn't treat Amy Winehouse with as much respect as it thinks it does

  • Marisa Abela, Eddie Marsan, Lesley Manville, Jack O'Connell
  • April 12th 2024
  • Sam Taylor-Johnson

Marisa Abela plays late British singer Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic.

The Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black has been heavily criticised and ridiculed in the lead-up to its release.

Some fans of the singer, who died in 2011, thought it was being made too soon after her death, while others complained about Marisa Abela’s casting as Winehouse. Now the film is finally upon us, people can make their own informed opinions about the biographical drama.

This biopic, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, follows the usual trajectory – it charts Winehouse’s rise to fame, her tumultuous marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell), her substance abuse problems and personal downfall.

There are many problems with Back to Black but the biggest is that it doesn’t celebrate Winehouse’s musical legacy enough. A lot of her major career moments (except her Grammy sweep) happen off-screen so you never really get a sense of her growing success and fame besides the paparazzi outside her house. You barely see her...

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