Back to Black
The singular talent and untrammelled spirit of Amy Winehouse are brought vividly to life in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s intimate, piquant portrait.
Love is a losing game: Marisa Abela conjures Amy Winehouse
Since the popularisation of photography as an art form in the 1960s, music and the still image have become inextricably linked. Sam Taylor-Johnson, the filmmaker formerly known as Sam Taylor-Wood, began her illustrious career paying homage to a variety of musical icons, from John Lennon (‘26 October 1993’) to Elton John (the Selfridge’s’ photomural of 2000). When she finally turned to directing, she chose John Lennon’s childhood as her theme for the multi-Bafta-nominated Nowhere Boy starring Aaron Johnson (now her husband). So Taylor-Johnson would seem a canny choice to direct the life story of Amy Winehouse, whose private hell was publicly chronicled by the paparazzi on both sides of the Atlantic. Music biopics are rapidly becoming one-a-penny, offering good actors a showy platform to exhibit their wares. But although the rags-to-riches trajectory makes for juicy drama, the closing chapters often prove problematic. Kingsley Ben-Adir was terrific as Bob Marley, but the film failed to burst into life. And the story of Amy Winehouse might prove to be particularly challenging, not least because Asif Kapadia’s Oscar-winning documentary (Amy) was such a powerful, albeit horrifying thing. How do you top that?
As Amy Winehouse died at the age of 27 (like her musical forebears Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, et al), the actress playing her, Marisa Abela, 27, does not have to age outrageously. But, boy, does she metamorphose. We first meet the good Jewish girl enjoying the love and warmth of her close-knit family in Enfield, North London. Her spirit and joie-de-vivre are still unbroken and music would seem to pulse through her bloodstream. While she is praised for having “a voice like Judy Garland,” her real heroines were Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Lauryn Hill. Yet she was not interested in money or fame, just the opportunity to write and perform her songs in the best way she saw fit. Resisting the image manipulation of her record company (“I ain’t no fucking Spice Girl.”), she says, tellingly, “I want to be remembered for just being me.”
Back to Black works so brilliantly for a number of reasons. Taylor-Johnson recognises the strength of her subject, but she also respects the silences inherent in the drama. She has elicited robust turns from her three stars, Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell (as Amy’s charismatic but unstable boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil) and Eddie Marsan (as her long-suffering father Mitch), all of whom are exceptional. Understanding the power of the singer’s songbook, Taylor-Johnson uses each hit as an emotive stepping-stone from one dramatic incident to the next. Around all this the director brings a visual intensity, capturing the shabby chic of a grey, overcast London while bringing to life the iconic shots of Winehouse in New York. But ultimately it is the uncanny performance of Marisa Abela, who becomes the character in all her various guises, the physical deterioration of the singer’s dependence on cigarettes, alcohol and crack cocaine gradually reflected in her blotched complexion and missing teeth. And the actress sings the songs herself, completing her total transformation. The film itself is a moving testament to a singular talent, a raw, authentic portrait shot through with a dark humour and a big heart. And when the ultimate tragedy does arrive, Taylor-Johnson displays the good sense to allow her subject the respect and privacy that she never received in life.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan, Juliet Cowan, Lesley Manville, Sam Buchanan, Pete Lee-Wilson, Thelma Ruby, Michael S. Siegel, Matilda Thorpe, Anna Darvas, Harley Bird, Bronson Webb, Therica Wilson-Read.
Dir Sam Taylor-Johnson, Pro Alison Owen, Debra Hayward and Nicky Kentish-Barnes, Screenplay Matt Greenhalgh, Ph Polly Morgan, Pro Des Sarah Greenwood, Ed Martin Walsh and Laurence Johnson, Music Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Costumes PC Williams, Sound Glenn Freemantle, Dialect coach Jamie Matthewman.
Monumental Pictures/StudioCanal-StudioCanal.
122 mins. UK/USA/France. 2024. UK Rel: 12 April 2024. US Rel: 17 May 2024. Cert. 15.
