Back To Black (Blu-ray Review)
We are seeing more films than ever based on the lives of iconic artists. As we know, some of them are very successful in laying out a streamlined story of an actor, singer or public figure’s life. But some is not all, and we’ve seen quite a few films take sharp left turns into something more mediocre. It was surprising to learn that Amy Winehouse was also getting a biopic treatment. News of the film being made and approaching release came back very quickly and then for US audiences the film came and went from the theater faster than we could head out to see it. Were audiences scared away by the previews? Was the film an unnecessary exercise in dramatizing Amy’s life? Or was it another one of those greatest hits type of biopics which retreads a story we already know. Find out more about Back To Black inside the review, and if you are wanting to add this new musical film to your collection, don’t forget to click the cover art at the end to order your copy!
Film 
The extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s (Marisa Abela) early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album, BACK TO BLACK, that catapulted Winehouse to global fame. Told through Amy’s eyes and inspired by her deeply personal lyrics, the film explores and embraces the many layers of the iconic artist and the tumultuous love story at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time.
Music fans know the story of Amy Winehouse very well. This is true even of people who didn’t like her music. She was an outright public figure the moment she released her debut album Frank in the UK, where it instantly became a hit. The music was thought not to be palatable for US audiences, but at the advent of file sharing, we all got a taste of songs like “Stronger Than Me” or “F Me Pumps” before Winehouse swung for a home run with Back To Black.
We witness the earlier career, with Amy loving the notoriety but shying away from fame and relying on alcohol and weed to numb her anxieties. She became bolder when she was under the influence and her boozy delivery made music fans clamor to shows and buy albums. Teaming up with producer Mark Ronson, Winehouse found her signature style – A 60’s sounding soul-inflected pop thing that proved to be something many music fans could find interest in. The earworm single “Rehab” laid the foundation for the entire Back to Black album, giving the overall sound a vintage yet fresh image that made the music timeless.
What most casual fans didn’t know is that Amy was already notorious in England. She was a consistently filmed and photographed paparazzi target. Amy often found herself falling down drunk in the streets and winding up online or in tabloids in embarrassing states. All of these moments are in the film as well as the relationship she had with Blake Fielder-Civil. Blake is the biggest influence behind the heartache in Back To Black, the film and the album. Blake is someone who boldly goes after Amy and seemingly loves her immediately, however he sleeps around and has a problem with cocaine, and so theirs becomes an unhealthy relationship. As she’s falling down drunk, Blake is on a coke bender and neither of them should be together in this state. By the time Back to Black arrives in the US, Amy is ready for rehab and Blake has been incarcerated.
The film hinges on the ups and downs of Amy’s career. There are glimpses of more personal moments, be it Amy’s private suffering with alcoholism or her relationship with her beloved grandmother. There are also snippets of happy times with her husband Blake, but those are bookended by sad moments with the same couple that throw of the balance of the love story. This more than likely is how some of these events unfolded so it would be understandable for some of those shifts in tone to be jarring. Clearly, the people in Amy’s life often were flawed and didn’t always give the greatest support or guidance when it was needed.
Back to Black, like quite a few recent biographical films curtails some of the heavier material moviegoers are wanting to see. We know the tabloid circus and alcoholism and tumultuous marriage of Amy Winehouse. These things are simply dramatized in this film. We don’t learn anything new about the artist. We don’t take away anything different either. Frustratingly, the film also drags because we slowly move through a short period of Amy’s life. One wishes we were given just a little more than surface information. When we are given biopics, it should be expected to go a little deeper than a quick read bio you might find online. For me, even the written epilogue at the end of the film read like it was written to be very general information. It’s my belief that Amy Winehouse and her story deserve better.
While I won’t say Back to Black is awful, I will say it has shortcomings. The actors never seem to rise above the level of imitating their real life counterparts, and working through the performances they are serviceable but not as good as the capable actors could deliver. The direction itself is also general, with nothing stylistically definitive. The writing is also given a sterile feeling with moments going by in an assembly line form like — “Here Is Amy releasing her first album, and here is Amy performing in a small club, and here is Amy drunk in the streets…” – This does a disservice to the artist and her story. There is no doubt that this will prove disappointing to some viewers.
Video
NOTE: Stills are provided for promotional purposes. These images are not from the Blu-ray
- Encoding: MPEG-4/AVC
- Resolution: 1080P (HD)
- HDR: N/A
- Layers: BD-50
- Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
- Clarity/Detail: Detail abounds in this appealing looking HD presentation for Back To Black. There is a lot of clarity around interior spaces, with bars and homes looking equally dense with details. There is no softness evident in the film and this Blu-ray looks a lot better than its 4K streaming counterpart available on Peacock, which itself is full of artifacts and compression issues.
- Depth: There is a good sense of depth throughout the film. The streets of London look great in foreground and background. Concert venues, bars and other interiors also benefit here, with no loss of information.
- Black Levels: Black levels are natural and deep without crushing or becoming problematic. Overall, the black levels are quite true to life.
- Color Reproduction: The color palette of Back To Black is often warm. Reds and blues have a pop to them and there are no instances of flatness
- Flesh Tones: Flesh tones appear natural throughout.
- Noise/Artifacts: I did not witness any artifacts or issues with the Blu-ray presentation of Back To Black
Audio
- Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD MA 7.1, Spanish DTS-HD Hi-Res 7.1, French DTS-HD MA Hi-Res 7.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Dynamics: Back To Black balances quiet slice-of-life moments with Winehouse’s performance re-enactments. The quiet side presents mostly dialogue and surround ambience. We then have the music, which sounds full and rich throughout. The clarity is so sharp that you can even hear the autotune on Marisa Abela’s voice in her re-recorded tracks. Despite my feelings about the film itself, the sound design is excellent and dynamically it’s outstanding and nearly immersive.
- Height: N/A
- Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer does its work with music first and foremost. Bass sounds accurate and clean and hits hard on occasion. Some sound effects carry some heft as well.
- Surround Sound Presentation: The ambience of concerts, recording montages, homes and bars and anywhere outdoors comes into play in the surrounds. They keep busy but are not intrusive.
- Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue comes through cleanly with precision, and even at lower volumes you can hear everything clearly.
Extras 
As we see with a lot of newer films, this one receives a small selection of extras about the making of the film. This release also ships with a slipcover and digital code. The two featurettes themselves are only about 11 minutes in total, not giving a lot of in-depth information. The Commentary fares better, but only a little bit.
Transforming Into an Icon (HD, 7:47)
Cast and crew discuss bringing the essence of Amy Winehouse on-screen. Learn how Marisa Abela was cast to play the musical icon and the extensive training she went through to embody the role.
Music as the Heartbeat (HD, 3:09)
BACK TO BLACK is a story that uses Amy’s albums and musical performances to drive the narrative. Hear from cast and crew, including some of Amy’s former bandmates, on the importance of music authenticity in the film.
Feature Commentary with Director Sam Taylor-Johnson
Summary
I watched Back To Black with an open mind. I always enjoyed Amy’s music and was saddened that her life ended so quickly and tragically. Her super-fans will no doubt love this love letter biography. Casual fans and newcomers may come away with some new information. It would be unfair to deem this a total failure, but I do personally believe that Back To Black could be much better if there was a little more depth to the story told on screen. For a little more, I recommend the excellent although also incomplete documentary Amy from 2015. For those looking for a re-enactment of Winehouse’s short career, this will do the trick, but don’t expect any major revelations to pop up anywhere.
