{"id":28633,"date":"2024-05-15T21:59:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T04:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28633"},"modified":"2024-05-15T21:59:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T04:59:25","slug":"back-to-black-misses-a-few-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28633","title":{"rendered":"BACK TO BLACK Misses a Few Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 122 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Focus Features opens exclusively at\ncinemas on May 17th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

London-based singer\/songwriter Amy Winehouse lived a wildly\nsuccessful but brief and tumultuous life. The immensely talented musician\ncreated a pair of iconic albums in the late 2000s before succumbing to the\nravages of alcohol abuse in 2011. In this era of YouTube and social media, her\npersonal problems were often all too visible for the public to see. Back to\nBlack<\/em> aims to tell the artist\u2019s entire story, but those wanting a deeper\nunderstanding of the individual or the reasons for her tragic end won\u2019t find\nthe answers they might be hoping for.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Deeply inspired by her grandmother and ex-singer Cynthia\n(Leslie Manville), viewers see Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) performing songs at\nhome and writing original numbers based on her own life experiences. Everyone,\nincluding father Mitch (Eddie Marsan) and friend Tyler (Spike Fearn), are quick\nto recognize her talent. Although many are taken aback by her bluntness and\nstubborn refusal to follow their advice, it isn\u2019t long before she finds a\nrecord deal. As this is occurring, the singer starts a wildly tumultuous\nrelationship with video production assistant Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack\nO\u2019Connell). Her first album is a success in the UK, but Amy begins struggling\nwith alcohol and drugs with Blake. These issues become the source material for\nthe second record, which is an even greater professional success. But sadly,\nher addictions and public behavior quickly spiral even further out of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are definitely some interesting elements to this\npicture. Lead Abela certainly looks the part and is convincing as Amy\nWinehouse, delivering an unfiltered brashness as the singer sets off to be a\nstar. She tells managers off and states her opinions on what makes for\nexcellent music without holding back. The beginning of the film also makes the\ncase that grandmother Cynthia is the reason for her love of 60s girl groups, as\nwell as her outward appearance. Amy\u2019s early interludes with Blake are also interesting\nto witness, as the pair trade barbs at a local bar before forming an intense\nbut deeply codependent and toxic connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunately, that\u2019s as deep as the film gets in explaining\nits subject\u2019s psychological issues. There is a specific reference to the\nrelationship being exactly as described above. Additionally, the protagonist\ndoes deny any addiction issues (and later saying she believes that she needs to\nsuffer in order to write great songs). The film also shows the many ugly\ndust-ups and reconciliations between Amy and her partner and attempts to mark\nthe passing of one family member as a reason for some of these self-destructive\nacts. However, as written, many of these moments feel inauthentic, a problem\nthe movie never fully recovers from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, much of what is shown is what occurred in her\nreal life, but some analysis or a specific look into the reasons for her\naddictions would have been welcome. As events progress and things become\nmessier, the movie merely resorts to recreations of drunken public outbursts at\nperformances (which can already be found on YouTube and other online outlets).\nThe film doesn\u2019t have any deeper insight into these professional stumbles, nor\ndoes it add any more understanding or revelations to her downward spiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, the character also blames herself for her\ndeterioration, but the movie makes sure to lay much of the blame on her father\nand Blake as individuals who seem to be solely taking advantage of the artist\nand her success. Once again, the final product appears to oversimplify what\nactually occurred and desperately need to provide more insight than it\nultimately provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yes, Back to Black<\/em> efficiently delivers the general\ndetails about Amy Winehouse and her short, tragic life. But sadly, most won\u2019t\nleave the picture with any fuller understanding about who the woman was, or\nglean a clearer picture of her psychosis and that\u2019s something of another\ntragedy for fans of the artist. Instead, most curious parties and fans will be\nbetter off returning to enjoying and appreciating the incredible music she left\nbehind. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 122 minutes This film from Focus Features opens exclusively at cinemas on May 17th. London-based singer\/songwriter Amy Winehouse lived a wildly successful but brief and tumultuous life. The immensely talented musician created a pair of iconic albums in the late 2000s before succumbing to the ravages of alcohol abuse in 2011. In this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,1301,2162,2163,2164,2165,2789,6251,6702,7700,10110,10483,12275,13245,14425,14429,16961,18736],"class_list":["post-28633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-amy-winehouse","tag-back-to-black","tag-back-to-black-film-review","tag-back-to-black-movie-review","tag-back-to-black-review","tag-biopic","tag-drama","tag-eddie-marsan","tag-focus-features","tag-jack-oconnell-2","tag-jazz","tag-leslie-manville","tag-marisa-abela","tag-music","tag-musical","tag-rhythm-and-blues","tag-soul"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}