Back to Black

 Did you think I forgot about this movie? 

No, I was biding my time until it became available for streaming. And then, I bided my time until it got to Peacock. And then, I bided my time until I finally decided to get to it. I know I teased you about it, but it's happening. In short, it's finally time to get back to Back to Black.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson reunites with her Nowhere Boy screenwriter, Matt Greenlagh, for this biopic of Amy Winehouse. We're first introduced to Amy (Marisa Abela) as an aspiring musician in London. She quickly gets famous when she gets the opportunity to do her debut album, Frank. Her record label immediately wants her to change her stage persona, which she doesn't want to do. She meets Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O'Connell) at a pub, and they quickly hit it off. Their stormy relationship leads to them getting married. All the while, Amy is inspired to write the titular album, her last one.

My summary sounds like a bunch of bullet points, but that's because the film pretty much is that. Let's take her rise to fame, for example. She gets a demo submitted to 19 Management; she tells them she doesn't want to be like the Spice Girls, whom 19 also managed; and bam, she's famous. We barely see, and are mostly told, about her creating her music. Blake's assault of a pub owner is also relegated to "tell, not show." The film shoulders her with her eventually fatal addictions, with her dad, Mitch (Eddie Marsan), and Blake (himself portrayed as an addict) trying in vain to reach her. Mitch catching her with marijuana leads to an unintentionally parodic argument. It's kind of difficult to care about Amy's eventual fate with the film's distance. 

Abela is still likable as Amy. Despite the film's narrative shortcomings, I cared about her relationship with her grandma, Cynthia (Lesley Manville), and Cynthia's eventual death. The title song plays around Cynthia's funeral, and it cutting to her actually recording it, and her breakdown upon finishing, is still effective. On a lighter note, it's nice to see Amy pal around with two other girls, even if those two are rendered irrelevant past their early scene. Her winning her multiple Grammies was also a strong moment. Abela's actual singing as Amy is almost on-point with the actual singer. The makeup and hairstylists also do a pretty good job recreating Amy's various looks.

What else can I say about it? Blake is presented as a dashing rogue who tries to overcome his demons. His audience sympathy may vary, but at least he's more memorable than whoever Amy's boyfriend was at the start. Mitch joining Amy in a duet of Fly Me to the Moon is his most memorable scene; otherwise, he is just fine. Cynthia, as I alluded to above, is the film's most memorable supporting character. I also liked the location filming at the London Zoo. Yeah, that's it.

Back to Black's is a confounding film. I didn't hate the film, but I wasn't too impressed with it. I never saw the documentary Amy, but I'd imagine part of why it won the Oscar years ago was because it made people care about her eventual fate. Say what you want of Bohemian Rhapsody, but its musical performances were nothing short of electric. Back to Black's bullet-pointed script doesn't give us much context into its subject's short life. It's only elevated somewhat above "meh" because of Abela's performance. It's still on Peacock if you want to watch it. Do you?