In ‘Back to Black,’ Marisa Abela’s fierce take on Amy Winehouse is the best reason to go, go, go

Review by Brian Lowry, CNN

(CNN) — The tragic arc of Amy Winehouse’s brief life and nova-like career creates built-in problems for a biography of the singer, which doesn’t dampen the knockout performance by Marisa Abela in “Back to Black,” capturing the talent, rage and self-destructiveness that defined her. Thin as biopics go, the power of Abela’s portrayal elevates the film, providing a poignance and strength that’s the clearest motivation to go, go, go.

Indeed, Winehouse’s stratospheric rise and paparazzi-plagued stardom lean in the direction of a fairly one-dimensional story, as she falls head over heels for the troubled Blake (Jack O’Connell), entering into a relationship that combines passion, excess and toxicity in roughly equal measure.

At the same time, she’s making her mark as a songwriter and singer, though her fondness for drink (and Blake’s dalliances with drugs) goes hand in hand with that – tendencies that provoke less concern than they seemingly should from her father (Eddie Marsan) and colorful grandmother (Lesley Manville), a one-time jazz singer who isn’t above telling tales out of school about the likes of Tony Bennett.

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (whose credits include the John Lennon biopic “Nowhere Boy” as well as “Fifty Shades of Grey”) from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, “Back to Black” tilts too heavily toward Winehouse’s personal struggles at the expense of her musical triumphs. Then again, as constructed here, the two went hand in hand, with the lyrics to songs like “Back to Black” and “Rehab” directly addressing her addictions to her relationship with Blake and alcohol.

Having appeared in the HBO series “Industry,” Abela pulls off this remarkably challenging character both musically and dramatically, in a way that isn’t necessarily sympathetic – to the extent Winehouse is often the author of her own troubles – but rather, magnetic. Ill-equipped for the demands of fame, she achieved it with sheer ferocity and talent, becoming the sort of commodity where the train’s moving too fast to slow down much for warning signs.

Of course, just making a movie about Winehouse invites charges of exploiting her tragic end at age 27 as opposed to celebrating her talent, but that’s an issue that can be laid at the feet of any number of gone-too-soon musical biographies, from “The Doors” to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” (The recent “Bob Marley: One Love” was notably made with the blessing and participation of his family and felt like a licensed product.)

In terms of capturing what animated Winehouse, the blinding star power that Abela emits here ultimately justifies the exercise. As for whether that means seeing “Back to Black” now in a theater or later at home, it’s the kind of small-boned movie that, unlike its subject, doesn’t quite have the feel of a headliner.

“Back to Black” premieres May 17 in US theaters. It’s rated R.

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