Scandal Over Substance: The Missed Potential of 'Back to Black’
by William Lindus
Amy Winehouse was a generational talent whose expressive voice leapt and pirouetted around her unique blend of jazz, R&B, and pop music, who crafted one of the best selling albums in UK history, and who swept the 2008 Grammys. Unfortunately, she was also an artist plagued by addiction and mental illness who died at the age of 27 of alcohol poisoning. Neither of these facts is rare or unknown; Amy’s ascent and tragic ending are both common knowledge, with her fandom still thriving sixteen years after her passing. Coupled with the sensationalized nature of her death (made more memorable and ironic by the fact that ‘Rehab’ was her highest charting single), Amy’s legacy has been cemented in the public consciousness.
This is part of the problem with BACK TO BLACK, the 2024 biopic about Amy’s life, struggles, and death. Following a period of roughly eight years of Amy’s life between being signed with Island records and producing her album Frank in 2003 through her untimely death in 2011, BACK TO BLACK is more interested in the scandal and Amy’s self-destructive spiral through addiction and self-abuse than it is her music. It’s a difficult line to walk, of course, because these elements are part and parcel to Amy’s story; yet here, they feel like the focus more so than even her music.
This isn’t to say that Amy’s music isn’t highlighted in BACK TO BLACK; no, perhaps the highest selling point of the film is its inclusion of Amy’s songs at key points through the film, accompanied by vocals from Marisa Abela, who does a phenomenal job playing the version of Amy we see on screen. When BACK TO BLACK steers away from scandal and lets us celebrate the music and the artistry, it soars, and with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis providing the film’s score, everything here sounds great. It’s hard not to undersell this aspect of the film, but the lead performance, music, and score all exceed the trappings found in other biopics. This is a technically sound, compelling film…
…with a script that doesn’t do any of these technical or artistic elements justice.
This is part of the problem with biopics as a subgenre, and while it feels unfair to throw this at the feet of this film in particular, the missteps made here only highlight the missed potential when biopics choose to focus on only the surface facts gleaned from biographies and Wikipedia articles. It also makes it difficult to either damn or praise this film, since it falls squarely in the middle of the pack when it comes to setting out what it intends to do - even if its intentions are misguided.
Amy Winehouse had a voice that breathed life and soul into every track she touched. A pity that we only seem interested in her death.
2.5 out of 5 Bear Paws