Singer Amy Winehouse's tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil inspires her to write and record the groundbreaking album "Back to Black."
Back To Black is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson director of Nowhere Boy (2009), Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015) and A Million Little Pieces (2018).
There's a certain level of responsibility that a director takes when they decide to a biopic about someone, the bare minimum of it is to not flat out lie, distort facts or be completely disrespectful to the person your making the film about. I had my gripes with Bob Marley: One Love a biopic which came out earlier this year, mainly due to making Bob Marley come off as apolitical or a centrist when he most certainly was not. However at the very least the film kept the spirit of Bob Marley through the music. So while I would say it's not the best way to tell Bob Marley's story I would not call it offensive.
Back To Black a biopic about Amy Winehouse on the other hand is offensive in it's messaging, portrayal of Amy Winehouse and what the movie expects the viewer to ultimately take away from this movie that can potentially lead to people actually believing what this movie is saying.
The movie wants the viewer to believe that writer Matt Greenhalgh and director Sam Taylor-Johnson genuinely care about Amy Winehouse and sympathize with her yet that's nowhere to be shown throughout this film. Every single moment is Winehouse being depicting how the media at the time treated her. The film barely focuses on her accomplishments or her being such a powerhouse singer that has a once in a generation voice. Instead this film attempts to criticize the media at the time saying they were the reason she died, yet does the exact thing it's supposedly against.
Any nuance of what led up to Amy Winehouse's tragic passing is lost in this movie because Johnson is more focused on trying to make a terrible downfall story that has absolutely nothing to add to the conversation about Amy Winehouse or her struggles. While yes it is true the media was absolutely cruel to Amy Winehouse, repeating what they did and then acting like your saying anything new is not the point you think you are making. Especially when you have poor direction, writing and acting thrown into the mix.
Look I'm sure Marisa Abela is a nice person and she was really trying her best here, but Amy Winehouse's voice is something that can't be replicated. As I said earlier it's a once in a generation type of voice, so I really can't blame Abela, I really do hope her career moves on to better things because she absolutely deserved a far better film.
What baffles me the most is the script treats Winehouse's struggles and even death as matters of fate, Blake is portrayed as this victim of Amy's struggles which is just absolutely baffling and begs the question why are you even making a biopic on Amy Winehouse at this point and her father is depicted as some powerless and wishful supporter all three things I just described being absolutely not true, Amy's death wasn't a matter of fate, Blake was not a victim and her father wasn't this powerless and wishful supporter. Neither of them are fully to blame for her death but they absolutely did treat Amy poorly.
Overall Back To Black is a dishonest movie and flat out disrespects Amy Winehouse's legacy, if you want to watch a film that respects Amy and does her story justice watch Amy (2015) a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia.
Back To Black is available on all VOD platforms.
Disgrace To Cinema F
No comments:
Post a Comment