Back to Black (2024)

Back to Black is so careful with Amy Winehouse that it never works out what it wants to say about her. It opens on a family that can’t stop singing, with Amy’s dad Mitch and her grandmother Cynthia leading the chorus. A friend gets her demo to the right manager, Island Records signs her, and her debut, Frank, is a hit. She digs in when the label wants her to change her act, steps back, and meets Blake Fielder-Civil at a Camden Town pub. Their romance and her struggles drive the rest, all the way to the album that made her a legend. Marisa Abela does her own singing and nails it, and Jack O’Connell is compelling as Blake. But the film goes easy on the men around her and keeps her inner life at arm’s length. It holds a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes and made $51 million worldwide. A 4.8 because the voice is right and the portrait is vague. $150.78 says you play the album start to finish on the way home and don’t skip a track.

What works: Marisa Abela sings every song herself and pulls it off, Jack O’Connell is compelling as Blake, and the film treats Amy with obvious respect.

What doesn’t: It goes easy on Blake and Mitch, skims over what drove her, and ends up a pedestrian, vague portrait of a singular artist.

Who it’s for: Amy Winehouse fans who want to hear those songs on a big screen and can live with a gentle, surface-level story.