Me talking about Back to Black is kind of strange as I was not an Amy Winehouse fan. Of course, I heard Valerie and Rehab on the radio all the time, but I never had any of her albums or went out of my way to listen to her music. More than her songs on the radio, the drama around her private life was always in the news so while I was not a fan, I was at the very least a tiny bit familiar with her.
How to Download Back to Black
Back to Black was released on 17 May 2024. You can download or stream the film from Peacock TV or another digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability.
The Movie Review
Amy Winehouse’s Impact
One thing I do know about Amy Winehouse is that those who love her, really do love her. It is kind of crazy the impact she had when her career was so short, that tells you she had something about her and you do not have to be a fan to respect that. My only real connection with her was that I am a huge Buffy fan and Amy Winehouse is mentioned in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic book series and I thought that was kind of cool.
The Portrayal of Her Husband
The thing with Back to Black is that it is just ok. As someone who does not know a great deal about Amy Winehouse, after the movie, I never felt like I actually knew anything more about her. I remember seeing part of a documentary about her husband who seemed like a real piece of work and I was kind of shocked at how the movie portrayed him as a somewhat sympathetic character. To be fair, I am not an Amy Winehouse expert at all so perhaps my perception that he was a huge part of her problems is not accurate.
Pacing and Focus of the Film
The pacing of Back to Black is rather odd. It was like she was signed and a star really early on in the movie. It would have been good to see more of her childhood or her early attempts at making music than we got. I get that the Back to Black album was the intended focus and with how much of a hit that album was that makes sense. However, for someone who did not know much about Amy Winehouse, I felt they could have shown so much more.
Missing Career Highlights
After watching the movie, I looked to see what Amy Winehouse fans thought and I read a whole bunch of cool stuff that she did in her career which was not mentioned or shown in the movie. The movie comes in at around two hours too so it is not like they were rushed to cram her career into 90 minutes and her career was quite short so I feel they could have shown a lot more.
Final Thoughts
This was a strange one. I came out of the theatre feeling kind of flat, I did not hate it, I did not love it, but I also did not feel any more connected to Amy Winehouse than I did before I went in. One thing I will say is that it did make me want to check out the documentary “Amy” as I have heard very good things about that.
