Cinema under the stars – Back to Black

BACK TO BLACK
Sam Taylor-Johnson (USA, 2024) 122′
Biographical

“I want people to hear my voice and forget their problems for five minutes. I want to be remembered for my voice, for the concerts, for being myself.” This is what the two only voiceovers say about Back to Black, a film that seems to want to make peace with the inner demons of the very talented Amy Winehouse, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 27.

Born and raised in London, from a family of Jewish origins, divorced parents, Amy Jade Winehouse is a free young woman, with a strong love for jazz music, a sense of humor and a taste for swearing. Her retro style is directly inspired by her beloved paternal grandmother Cynthia, a former professional singer, her “style icon, icon of everything”. Amy has powerful voice, range, groove, she grew up listening to African American music. If you didn’t know her features, she could easily pass for a black singer. Body like a bird, temper like a lioness, she signed her first contract at eighteen, with already very clear ideas on the concept of stage presence. No one knows how to stand up to her and no man knows how to be close to her as she would like. She declares it in Stronger Than Me, one of the songs from Frank, her debut album which reaches thirteenth in the charts in the United Kingdom (“I no longer remember the joy of young love / I feel like a lady and you are my lady boy” ). Everything changes when Blake Fielder-Civil, a drug addict, enters “The Good Mixer” in Camden and seduces her by miming Leader of the Pack by the Shangri-Las. It’s love at first sight, the beginning of a devastating relationship for both of them.