Director Sam Taylor-Johnson finds herself going from Grey to Black for this Amy Winehouse Biopic.
Another month and we have another newly released biopic this time centering around the life and career of soul singer Amy Winehouse. Firstly I should say that I generally like biopics particularly ones about musicians as after all who doesn't enjoy music?
I have to say though this is one musician whose career I wouldn't want to be trying to adapt into a big screen story.
Why? I hear you ask.
Two reasons.
One: Because of just how hounded Amy was by the press which resulted in a large number of overly exaggerated if not outright false stories being written about her. I wouldn't want to be the one to have to say this is what I think really happened as everyone seems to have their own opinion on her life.
Two: She's not around to defend herself. Whilst ordinarily I wouldn't say a biopic shouldn't be made about an artist who has passed away, with the amount of lies that were spread about Amy and her life who knows if what you are putting on screen actually happened or not.
I would imagine largely as a result of the points I made in the previous paragraph Taylor-Johnson plays this biopic incredibly safe. All the information the audience is given throughout the film is largely surface level and the film fails to take any sort of deep dive into what really lead Amy to an early death at the age of just 27.
It's definitely not all a lost though, the acting for one I felt was particularly strong. Anyone who's been reading my reviews for a little while knows about my love for the actors from the tv show skins. Jack O'Connell who played cook in skins stars as Amy's boyfriend, husband and eventually Ex-Husband Blake and he absolutely stole the show for me. I have been longing to see him play a cheeky bad boy again as he's so good at it and yet again he shines here. Amy Winehouse herself is played by Marisa Abela, I think the thing to look for in a musical biopic is whether the actor still feels like the real person when they're not on stage. Does Marisa still feel like Amy when she's just having a chat with her Nan for instance?
I'm happy to say I felt she definitely did. I particularly felt she got the accent and the speaking voice spot on. As for Amy's singing voice it's such a unique sound to try to replicate but after doing some research it seems Marisa did all her own singing in the film and if that's true then wow.
If you're looking for a deep dive into the life of Amy Winehouse then I recommend the 2015 documentary.
What we are given in Back to Black is a well shot and well acted biopic but one that is far from the likes of Rocketman and one that I'm likely to forget about completely after just a couple of weeks.
Another month and we have another newly released biopic this time centering around the life and career of soul singer Amy Winehouse. Firstly I should say that I generally like biopics particularly ones about musicians as after all who doesn't enjoy music?
I have to say though this is one musician whose career I wouldn't want to be trying to adapt into a big screen story.
Why? I hear you ask.
Two reasons.
One: Because of just how hounded Amy was by the press which resulted in a large number of overly exaggerated if not outright false stories being written about her. I wouldn't want to be the one to have to say this is what I think really happened as everyone seems to have their own opinion on her life.
Two: She's not around to defend herself. Whilst ordinarily I wouldn't say a biopic shouldn't be made about an artist who has passed away, with the amount of lies that were spread about Amy and her life who knows if what you are putting on screen actually happened or not.
I would imagine largely as a result of the points I made in the previous paragraph Taylor-Johnson plays this biopic incredibly safe. All the information the audience is given throughout the film is largely surface level and the film fails to take any sort of deep dive into what really lead Amy to an early death at the age of just 27.
It's definitely not all a lost though, the acting for one I felt was particularly strong. Anyone who's been reading my reviews for a little while knows about my love for the actors from the tv show skins. Jack O'Connell who played cook in skins stars as Amy's boyfriend, husband and eventually Ex-Husband Blake and he absolutely stole the show for me. I have been longing to see him play a cheeky bad boy again as he's so good at it and yet again he shines here. Amy Winehouse herself is played by Marisa Abela, I think the thing to look for in a musical biopic is whether the actor still feels like the real person when they're not on stage. Does Marisa still feel like Amy when she's just having a chat with her Nan for instance?
I'm happy to say I felt she definitely did. I particularly felt she got the accent and the speaking voice spot on. As for Amy's singing voice it's such a unique sound to try to replicate but after doing some research it seems Marisa did all her own singing in the film and if that's true then wow.
If you're looking for a deep dive into the life of Amy Winehouse then I recommend the 2015 documentary.
What we are given in Back to Black is a well shot and well acted biopic but one that is far from the likes of Rocketman and one that I'm likely to forget about completely after just a couple of weeks.