Amy Winehouse: Back to Black

Filmmaker Jeremy Marre’s engaging documentary takes a retrospective look at the recording of Amy Winehouse’s hit 2006 album Back to Black, combining interviews—with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, members of the backup band Dap-Kings, and other musicians who worked on the album—together with archival footage of Winehouse in interviews and recording in the studio. Unlike Asif Kapadia’s Oscar-winning 2015 biographical documentary Amy (VL-11/15), the focus here is not on Winehouse’s drug-and-alcohol-fueled personal life (although the film can’t completely avoid the subject either), but rather the music itself, especially the influence of ‘60s girl groups like the Ronettes (lead singer Ronnie Spector appears here) on the hit tracks "You Know I’m No Good," "Rehab," and "Tears Dry on Their Own." In archival interviews, Winehouse talks about how her ups and downs drove her lyric-writing (she died in 2011 of a drug overdose; Back to Black was her second and last studio album). Also featured on the disc is "An Intimate Evening in London," a private performance from February 2008 on the night that Winehouse won five Grammy awards (she was banned from entering the U.S. due to drug concerns). She sings eight songs—including the aforementioned hits, "Addicted," and "Love Is a Losing Game"—in an intimate lounge setting in this never-before-released mini-concert. Although there are some bright moments, the "never-before-released" decision is understandable given her apparent high and/or inebriated state (halfway through the set she requests a banana daiquiri and adds "I’m serious"). Presented in DTS-5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and LPCM stereo on Blu-ray, this bittersweet chronicle of the making of a great album is recommended. (R. Pitman)