CNN
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The tragic arc of Amy Winehouse’s brief life and nova-like profession creates built-in issues for a biography of the singer, which doesn’t dampen the knockout efficiency by Marisa Abela in “Back to Black,” capturing the expertise, rage and self-destructiveness that outlined her. Skinny as biopics go, the ability of Abela’s portrayal elevates the movie, offering a poignance and power that’s the clearest motivation to go, go, go.
Certainly, Winehouse’s stratospheric rise and paparazzi-plagued stardom lean within the path of a reasonably one-dimensional story, as she falls head over heels for the troubled Blake (Jack O’Connell), coming into right into a relationship that mixes ardour, extra and toxicity in roughly equal measure.
On the similar time, she’s making her mark as a songwriter and singer, although her fondness for drink (and Blake’s dalliances with medication) goes hand in hand with that – tendencies that provoke much less concern than they seemingly ought to from her father (Eddie Marsan) and colourful grandmother (Lesley Manville), a one-time jazz singer who isn’t above telling tales out of college concerning the likes of Tony Bennett.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (whose credit embrace the John Lennon biopic “Nowhere Boy” in addition to “Fifty Shades of Gray”) from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, “Again to Black” tilts too closely towards Winehouse’s private struggles on the expense of her musical triumphs. Then once more, as constructed right here, the 2 went hand in hand, with the lyrics to songs like “Again to Black” and “Rehab” immediately addressing her addictions to her relationship with Blake and alcohol.
Having appeared within the HBO sequence “Industry,” Abela pulls off this remarkably difficult character each musically and dramatically, in a method that isn’t essentially sympathetic – to the extent Winehouse is usually the writer of her personal troubles – however reasonably, magnetic. Ailing-equipped for the calls for of fame, she achieved it with sheer ferocity and expertise, turning into the type of commodity the place the practice’s transferring too quick to decelerate a lot for warning indicators.
After all, simply making a film about Winehouse invitations costs of exploiting her tragic finish at age 27 versus celebrating her expertise, however that’s a problem that may be laid on the toes of any variety of gone-too-soon musical biographies, from “The Doorways” to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” (The latest “Bob Marley: One Love” was notably made with the blessing and participation of his household and felt like a licensed product.)
When it comes to capturing what animated Winehouse, the blinding star energy that Abela emits right here finally justifies the train. As for whether or not which means seeing “Again to Black” now in a theater or later at house, it’s the form of small-boned film that, in contrast to its topic, doesn’t fairly have the texture of a headliner.
“Again to Black” premieres Could 17 in US theaters. It’s rated R.