By Mark Fields
Amy Winehouse Biopic Sanitizes Singer’s Story Yet Still Brims with Tragedy
We know the end of this tragic show biz story even before we sit down in the theater. So, viewers (at least this one) come to Back to Black to reverently acknowledge the incredible talent of British singer Amy Winehouse and perhaps gain some understanding of how her troubled life and career led to her death of alcohol poisoning at the age of only 27. But this biopic offers few insights into the singer’s psyche, and the script by Matthew Greenhalgh incomprehensibly sands down some of the rough edges in Winehouse’ story and sanitizes the motivations of the two dominating male figures in her life. The result, despite the absorbing performance of Marisa Abela as Amy, is unsatisfying, both as biography and as cinematic drama.
An award-winning 2015 documentary on Winehouse, simply titled Amy, focuses more attention on her musical genius and meteoric albeit brief career. So, Greenhalgh and director Sam Taylor-Johnson choose instead to focus on her tumultuous relationships with her father Mitch and her boyfriend, later husband Blake Fielder-Civil. Back to Black positions Mitch (played by Eddie Marsan) as a doting yet hovering father, when history suggests he was a more controlling, grasping presence in Amy’s life. Similarly, Blake (portrayed by Jack O’Connell), despite his unapologetic affection for drugs and hard living, is depicted in the film as more mature about the toxicity of their relationship than Amy. Winehouse herself is oftentimes reduced to a simpering, lovesick caricature instead of the singer’s more complex, troubled personality. That said, all three actors bring conviction and verve to their performances.
Taylor-Johnson, whose biggest credit prior to this film, is Fifty Shades of Gray, shows again here no real command of film rhythms or pacing. She does little to paper over the plotting and logic flaws in Greenhalgh’s underwhelming screenplay. And, this film is often slack and lifeless, despite the drama inherent in the story. Simply put, Amy Winehouse and her tragic story deserve a far better movie rendition than this one. Fortunately, that film – the 2015 biography Amy – already exists.
