'Back to Black' review: Amy Winehouse biopic looks away from darkness

Amy Winehouse's edges are sanded down but not buffed out completely in "Back to Black," a patchy biopic that paints the electrifying jazz revisionist as a gifted young Londonite with a dream.

"I just want people to hear my voice and forget their troubles for five minutes," says Winehouse, in voiceover, at the opening of the film. It's an over-simplification of the singer's goal and career (it was borrowed from a childhood essay) but it does paint her in a flattering light, which is mostly the purpose of the film, which carries the full backing of the Winehouse estate. "Amy," the Oscar-winning 2015 doc, was a more frank and haunting look at Winehouse, her demons and her sad demise. "Back to Black" doesn't turn a blind eye to her troubles, but it does tend to treat its subject with kid gloves.

Winehouse, who died in 2011 at age 27, is played by "Industry's" Marisa Abela, in a performance that masterfully mimics the singer's vocal tics but never quite captures her livewire spark, or the razor sharp edge that made her always seem like she was one step away from going completely off the rails. There's no danger in Abela's performance, and she plays Winehouse more wide-eyed than the real thing, when a large part of her appeal was her unpredictability and combustability.

Winehouse was a generational talent, but "Back to Black" doesn't always fully grasp her power, and winds up running away from it.

What "Back to Black" does nail is the million watt scuzzbag charisma of Blake Fielder-Civil, and the way he supercharges Winehouse's life the moment he enters it in a London bar. He's played by Jack O'Connell as a lightning bolt of pub-worn charm, and the extended scene where he sweeps Winehouse off her feet over a game of pool while playing her songs on the jukebox is a perfect encapsulation of their pure chemical attraction to one another. Despite his stern warning to her — "I like to sabotage myself," he says plainly — as soon as he lip-syncs the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack" to her, it's over. She never stood a chance.

"Back to Black," which is directed by "Fifty Shades of Grey's" Sam Taylor-Johnson and written by Matt Greenhalgh (2007's Ian Curtis biopic "Control"), is less effective at capturing Winehouse's artistry or her creative process. It mostly avoids writing and recording sessions, and in so doing, it ignores the magic she was able to commit to record (or worse, deigns it a triviality). There are plenty of Winehouse's songs featured on the soundtrack, especially in the back half of the film, but they start to feel less in service of the story and more like a plug for her streams.

Eddie Marsan plays Winehouse's father, Mitch, and Lesley Manville is Cynthia, her loving grandmother. Mitch's portrayal, in particular, is more glowing than the craven opportunist he was portrayed as in "Amy."

"Back to Black" comes amid a wave of music biopics to rise in the wake of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and it avoids many clichés of the genre — there are no shots of Billboard charts, for example, or Winehouse's songs racing up them — but as a result, it ends up taking a lot of aspects of her career for granted. Outside of growing numbers of paparazzi following Winehouse, there's no way to gauge her popularity, or context given to her place in the music world as her star is rising.

The doomed toxic love affair between Winehouse and Fielder-Civil is the center of the film, and that's where "Back to Black" shines brightest — or in this case, the darkest. The pair forms a co-dependency that spirals further out of control with each passing tattoo they ink of themselves on their bodies. Their relationship was the inspiration for Winehouse's breakthrough 2006 album from which the movie derives its name, but the movie trails off in its aftermath and the Grammy triumph it spawned. Its final moments struggle to put a glow on her tragic downfall.

"I ain't no f---in' Spice Girl," Winehouse explains in the movie to the pop producers who want to make her a star. "Back to Black" wants to honor her legacy, but it ends up taking a lot of the spice out of the girl.

agraham@detroitnews.com

'Back to Black'

GRADE: C+

Rated R: drug use, language throughout, sexual content and nudity

Running time: 122 minutes

In theaters