This is a thankless task I feel. Amy Winehouse is someone on who we project a lot. Everyone has an opinion, even those of us who think we don’t. We might not be tabloid fans, but we still witnessed her sad story play out. Honestly I’m not sure we need to relive it do we, but let’s see. It’s got a decent cast. Lesley Manville as her grandma, Eddie Marsan as her dad, Mitch. Jack O’Connell is the boyfriend Blake and Amy, well that monumental task falls to Marisa Abela. Yes she sings. And yes, she sings well. A convincing enough copy. I’m not sure it should be that important, but it will be. So much of this hangs on the voice. I’m not sure what I’m struggling with, but I am struggling right away. I think it’s it trying to get across her chaotic nature in such a controlled way. There’s no grit. None. It’s all surface. No danger and honestly she deserved better. The music is great, but you could just listen to a record, watch a video. We’re quickly whisked through the fast rise. Clunkily so, the exposition doesn’t really stop. People listing the accolades the first record received. People don’t speak like that. I know we see a caricatured version of Amy, but this just lazily rolls that out. It doesn’t get under the skin. I guess this solves any accuracy concerns, it sticks to the broad strokes. It feels like there was a better film here, a more interesting performance. Abela is still good though and although Blake is supposed to be the villain, at least O’Connell has a pulse. He also mimes along to the Shangri-La’s rather well. Every now and then it shows a glimpse of promise, just enough for you to want to give it more time, but too much of it feels like Love Actually… without the laughs. In fact the saddest thing is this gets better as things get worse for Amy. The second half of the film is all downhill. Drugs, booze, paparazzi. There is the music of course. Whether it’s Amy’s or her influences, it’s brilliant, but that’s not enough and I’m really not sure what this is trying to achieve. If it’s a pure retelling, it’s lacking, anything else and it’s merely an exploitive slow motion car crash.
4/10
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