‘Back to Black’ (2024) Netflix Movie Review - A Great Insight into Amy Winehouse’s Life and Death

This movie about Amy Winehouse offers a great insight into her overall life. The phases in her life that it covers are what make the movie worth watching. Right from the start, we see a young naïve Amy, the one who still hasn’t become a star yet, but sings in family gatherings. Her voice has magic, which shows that there is a lot more than what meets the eye. It is this very light singing at gatherings that the makers want us to see that her voice held the power to captivate the whole world in years to come. She has a particular interest in jazz music, an interest that can’t really be explained in words but can be seen. Limited plots that revolve around the life of Amy Winehouse talk about her as a young adult, long before she became known to us as “Amy Winehouse”. Slowly, the storyline moves towards the start of her career. She sings and captures her audience through melody. All this turned her into a household name. But for a young Amy, handling this fame was a struggle. While it did give her a lot, it also made her sad and depressed, which led her to rely heavily on drugs.  Her addiction started to become from bad to worse. In between all the fame and drug addiction, she met people and fell in love. But even in all this, her struggles continued.

This biopic is definitely worth a watch, mostly because, as I mentioned above, the way it has been created. On the acting front, it, however, does feel a bit forced, especially with the accent that Marisa Abela has tried to copy. Somewhere, her acting doesn’t really convince us that it is Winehouse that we are watching. Yes, I do understand that one cannot become another person, but Marisa Abela just doesn’t fit that well as Amy Winehouse.  We have had biopics on famous personalities where the actors have been par excellence in telling the stories, so much so that we forget that they are individual people themselves. That magic, in this biopic, is missing.

A big shout-out has to be given to the costume designers.  They studied Amy Winehouse’s dressing style pretty well. From start to end, we see her evolving fashion. First, the makers bring us a version of Amy that wasn’t a star. Then we see a version where that is a star-making, and finally a version where she is a star already. All these personalities have been well explored by the designers. Right from her hairdo, to makeup, clothes, and even her tattoos are all placed on Marisa Abela to present to Amy Winehouse. We can see a stark difference in the way she dressed before she found her freedom. Miniskirts, crop tops, soon turned into deep-necked frocks in bright colors with broad winged eyeliner. Honestly, it is because of these get-ups that we understand more about the personality being depicted. In this aspect of biopic making, the makers have done a great job.

Other than that, her music has been well sung and used throughout the run time. All her big hits have been taken into consideration to give viewers a great insight into her career. Yes, the makers haven’t focused on her childhood part, which I feel perhaps wasn’t really needed as it is. So, right to the jump into her young adulthood was indeed a good decision. Pacing-wise, also, the plot runs perfectly. It isn’t dragged much either. All in all, this can be a good one-time watch.

Final Score- [7/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Choudhuri
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times