Though an Academy Award nomination should elevate the feelings surrounding a film, sometimes an undeserved one can harbor resentment. 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody surely fits this bill with one of the worst critical ratings of any film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars or awarded Best Picture at the Golden Globes. This infamous poster child for the genre of music biopics glossed over the real story of Queen and instead painted a rosy picture of the band fit for a PG-13 audience. Despite its popular backlash, though, the film’s box office success surely helped fuel the following onslaught of biopics. Now, the latest artist to get this treatment is the iconic late vocalist Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Back to Black. Though the film doesn’t feature the same rosiness as Bohemian Rhapsody, Back to Black still follows the general blueprint, portraying the ups and downs along the artist’s rise to fame.
Many will ask if this movie should have been made, especially considering the critical success of Asif Kapadia’s 2015 documentary, Amy. These folks might pan Back to Black out of biopic fatigue alone, but it’s worthwhile to examine the film in its own rite. Overall, as a standalone drama, the film isn’t bad. After an oddly cheap-feeling initial scene, the first act effectively draws the audience into teenage Winehouse’s world in North London, sparing us the entirety of her climb to fame by kicking the story off when she is already a semi-established artist. The rest of the film focuses on Winehouse and her various relationships with her father (Eddie Marsan), inspirational nan (Lesley Manville), contemptible boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’ Connell), the paparazzi and drugs and alcohol. Winehouse is depicted as an old soul with complicated relationships and a deeply held motivation to be authentic, giving the audience an intimate view into the singer’s personal life. The film doesn’t glamorize the star’s success or recount her rags-to-riches story with the sheen of a Hollywood spotlight, and to his credit, Taylor-Johnson does show restraint by honorably approaching the dramatization of Winehouse in a way that the acclaimed singer might have approved. But despite this earnest attempt at authenticity, Back to Black lacks the spark needed to effectively chug things along.
There are two large issues with Back to Black, the first being the pacing. After a strong first act where we get to know the young Winehouse, the remainder of the movie is very jumpy. We get an extended look into the beginning of her relationship with Fielder-Civil before a few quick time jumps leave us with whiplash as Winehouse is suddenly reeling from their breakup. This pacing continues for the rest of the film where it’s often unclear how much time has passed and why certain glimpses of Winehouse’s life receive more attention than others. We lose sight of the singer’s rise in fame and the progression of her career. Though this is likely something Taylor-Johnson intentionally strayed away from, it’s an important element of her story that helps to frame her life over time.
The second issue with the film is that it fails to adequately portray the iconic artist’s voice. This is no knock on Abela in the lead role, who convincingly portrays the singer, but rather the problem with making a movie about one of the most talented vocalists ever is trying to recreate her music in a deserving way. Though Abela makes a noble attempt, it never feels like more than a good impression. She relies on slowing down her tempo and really drawing out the cues that are iconic of Winehouse’s signature style to the point that it almost feels like parody. Perhaps the producers would have been better off replicating the methods used in Bohemian Rhapsody in which several different voices, including Freddie Mercury’s, were used to create convincing vocals. Instead, Abela’s voice never sounds like the real thing, and the audience never feels the goosebumps that are quintessential to the experience of listening to her music.
This depiction of Winehouse gives insight into her identity—a brilliantly talented singer who, most of all, wanted to be loved for who she was. Instead of aiming for commercial success, she sought to passionately live, feel and love, understanding and relying on the beauty in the struggle to fuel her music. It’s a lesson that Taylor-Johnson was surely inspired by when directing the film, but painting an authentic picture of the late singer’s relationships while failing to give proper attention to her music career was a risk that didn’t pay off. Taylor-Johnson deserves credit for aiming to veer from the generic biopic formula and stay true to the ideals that Winehouse lived by, but in doing so, he failed to capture the true beauty of Winehouse’s music, ultimately causing the film to blend in with the pack of lackluster biopics.
Photo courtesy of Focus Features
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