Back to Black review – wildly uneven portrait of Amy Winehouse

For relative newcomer Marisa Abela, landing the role of Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic is simultaneously a dream role for a rising actor and the toughest, most thankless gig imaginable. Winehouse’s bottled lightning charisma, her naked emotional honesty, her lived-in-the-moment intensity, her voice – it’s almost impossible to replicate without tipping over into Camden crawl costume party territory. There are moments when Abela disappears and Winehouse bursts on to the screen, like a magic eye picture blinked fleetingly into focus. But the film is wildly uneven and prone to catastrophic misjudgments – in that at least it’s true to Winehouse’s spirit.