When making a movie about a singer or actor, a lot of pressure comes with having to capture their essence and embody them while trying to sum up their lives within two hours. This is something that Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director of the Amy Winehouse movie, Back to Black did not accomplish.

Back to Black, based on Winehouse’s life and her music career, showed all of Winehouse’s flaws and her struggles with substance abuse, alcoholism, complicated ex-boyfriends, and her family life.

Going into this movie, I expected to watch how Winehouse embarked on her music career, including the highs and lows of getting there. While the movie did show her experience, it really focused on her substance abuse and the downfall, which I felt did not represent her.

The filmmakers definitely showed the sadness in Winehouse’s life and the drug addiction that ultimately led to her death. I had expected to see more of how she performed, how she made her music and what inspired her songs. I wish Taylor-Johnson had focused more on her family life and how she grew up, more on the circumstances that led her to becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs, and the events that lead her to become depressed.

I enjoyed how much emotion Marisa Abela, the actress who played Winehouse, put into her character. I believe Abela was a great choice to play Winehouse. She did an amazing job at telling the story of Winehouse’s hardships.

Her singing was great and I think her voice was very similar to Winehouse’s. Overall, I think the film was substantial, but there are many things I wish Taylor-Johnson would have done differently.

I don’t think Winehouse’s story was told to the best of the director’s abilities. Winehouse deserved a better story than what was told.

She lived a complex life and the movie didn’t represent what people were expecting it to. I would have wanted to see more of the last moments of her life. Since she was struggling with drugs while performing, it would have been interesting to see Abela recreate her last performance and get the chance to feel the emotion she could put into her role. Winehouse’s final performance brought sadness to people in the crowd as they saw her fall further and further into her addiction.

Her last concert was and still is a monumental moment in Whinehouse’s carrer that should have been represented in the film. Although I found the film satisfactory, I feel like I need to watch it
again because I may have missed the point of what Taylor-Johnson was trying to reach. She was trying to tell Winehouse’s story through a certain perspective and I think I need to go into it again
with an open mind to try to understand.