We round up the reviews for the Amy Winehouse biopic which is out in cinemas now.
The Guardian: **** “It’s a movie with the simplicity, even the naivety, of a fan-tribute. But there’s a thoroughly engaging and sweet-natured performance from Marisa Abela as Amy – though arguably taking the rougher edges off.”
The Independent: ** “Despite strong performances from Marisa Abela and Jack O’Connell as the late icon and her one-time husband Blake Fielder-Civil, Sam Taylor-Johnson’s controversial film tiptoes around judging anyone who isn’t part of the paparazzi – Blake and Amy’s father Mitch get off scot-free.”
Empire: ** “Perhaps the issue is the film’s concept: the script draws its inspiration from her lyrics in Back To Black, and Fielder-Civil was the subject of this second and final album. But while the songs act as a musical-like narrative of her life, no time is devoted to showing us how she made them (pouring them out fully-formed in her bedroom with an acoustic guitar doesn’t count). We see none of the artistic decisions she made in the studio that led to her becoming a phenomenon, or the complicated but powerful singer-songwriter who won five Grammys in one night. In Back To Black, Amy Winehouse is just a girl singing about a boy.”
The Observer: ** “There are moments when Abela disappears and Winehouse bursts on to the screen, like a magic eye picture blinked fleetingly into focus. But the film is wildly uneven and prone to catastrophic misjudgments – in that at least it’s true to Winehouse’s spirit.”
Evening Standard: * “Maybe not in 2024, but there will, in say 20 years’ time, be people whose first experience of Amy Winehouse is Back to Black. And this is a film that does not paint a nice or fair picture of her as a human, nor get across how special an artist she was. The final scene, in particular, with its completely and utterly baseless, sensationalist implications, made me physically gasp in horror.”
BFI.org.uk: “But while there’s much to admire about Back to Black, it falls short of the filmmaker’s aspirations to focus on the music. The script seems haunted by a fear of litigiousness and Abela’s singing doesn’t quite match Winehouse’s emotive command. Like Winehouse herself, the film teeters between genre-subversive brilliance and well-worn tropes about the tragic woman. Whatever audiences decide, as Abela delivers her closing number to the camera, Back to Black will no doubt succeed in reminding them of Winehouse’s extraordinary talent and era-defining songs.”
Variety: “At its best, “Back to Black,” the forthright and compelling movie that’s been made of Winehouse’s life, takes that light/dark balance and digs into the drama of it, making it sing. The film’s snaky on-and-off power begins with the British actor Marisa Abela, whose lead performance nails Amy Winehouse in every look, mood, utterance, and musical expression.”
The Telegraph: *** “Marisa Abela does a sterling job as the troubled star – but this overly cautious drama ducks away from saying anything truly enlightening.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “In some ways, the flaws in Back to Black are similar to the weaknesses in her late 1990s/early 2000s art: a certain facile interest in surface, an obsession with celebrity and fame that lacks insight, a pop video-deep approach to narrative. By the end of Back to Black, we’ve observed Amy rise to fame, fall in love, get heartbroken, and die but we never really get to know what makes her tick.”
Rolling Stone: *** “Back To Black scarcely scratches the surface of Amy Winehouse’s personal demons, but it is anchored by a masterful performance from Marisa Abela.”
Digital Spy: “Despite the efforts of Marisa Abela in a challenging role, it’s hard to know exactly who Back to Black ends up being for. If anything, it might be a better fit for people who don’t know who Amy Winehouse is or what she went through.”
Radio Times: *** “Taylor-Johnson’s presentations of the songs are rich in detail and gorgeously atmospheric, but away from the microphone Winehouse remains an enigma, a torch singer upon whom neither director nor writer shine any substantial additional light.”
Deadline: “Given the material, Back to Black bows out on an unexpectedly minor key, which is probably better than a queasy Queen of Hearts payoff. In that respect it’s an unusual film, in that it doesn’t quite boil down to any one thing: it’s not about fame, it’s not about money, it’s not (really) about addiction. It does, however, paint an unexpectedly complex portrait of an artist who, over the years, has largely been portrayed in broad and patronizing strokes, much like the tattoo of Betty Boop she wore on her back. The musical biopic format doesn’t quite do it justice, but it would make one hell of an opera.”
Metro.co.uk: *** “Back to Black is not as sanitised as previous musical biopics in recent years like Bohemian Rhapsody, but remains loving towards its central figure.”