43
Metascore
45 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawBack to Black is essentially a gentle, forgiving film and there are other, tougher, bleaker ways to put Winehouse’s life on screen – but Abela conveys her tenderness, and perhaps most poignantly of all her youth, so tellingly at odds with that tough image and eerily mature voice.
- 80NMENick LevineNMENick LevineThis film was always going to face accusations of being exploitative – given the way Winehouse was scrutinised when she was alive – but the naysayers needn’t have worried. Taylor-Johnson’s film (particularly the ending) is impressively deft and delicate.
- 70VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanAt its best, Back to Black, the forthright and compelling movie that’s been made of Winehouse’s life, takes that light/dark balance and digs into the drama of it, making it sing.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinBack to Black is, like its heroine, flawed and fallible but frequently very affecting.
- 60Total FilmJames MottramTotal FilmJames MottramA competent if occasionally clunky biopic, enlivened by a superb Marisa Abela, who truly inhabits Winehouse and brings those songs to life.
- 50Screen DailyJonathan RomneyScreen DailyJonathan RomneyIn Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Back To Black, Winehouse’s brief, brilliant life is essentially pared down to a tale of poisoned romance.
- 40The IndependentCharlotte O'SullivanThe IndependentCharlotte O'SullivanBack to Black is a fitfully enjoyable little package that will do wonders for the careers of Abela and O’Connell. But unlike Winehouse’s oeuvre, it’s not worth taking seriously. It’s just too afraid of the dark.
- 20Little White LiesRogan GrahamLittle White LiesRogan GrahamAs much as the party line insists this film is a celebration of Amy’s musical genius, it is as salacious and cruel as any tabloid cutting from the noughties – only invested in the bloody ballet pump left in the street, not the complexities of living a very public life with addiction.