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Common sense media reviewers.

Mature WWII drama taps into base human instinct.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Antisemitism, sexism, coercion, torture, and murde

Nearly unrelenting violence, played out in full go

Graphic nudity (including a urination scene and fu

Antisemitic hate words and swearing -- "s--t,

No products of note, save for Cadbury and a specif

Apropos for the era, there's plenty of drinkin

Parents need to know that this subtitled World War II drama from the director of Basic Instinct is intense from start to finish. Wartime takes its toll on all the characters, robbing them of their humanity. The lead character, Rachel/Ellis, sleeps with the enemy to infiltrate their turf, and people are…

Positive Messages

Antisemitism, sexism, coercion, torture, and murder are all part and parcel of the storyline and setting. But the heroine is a brave, resourceful woman.

Violence & Scariness

Nearly unrelenting violence, played out in full gore. A man is shot and his brain explodes; dead bodies are dug up from mass graves; lots of gunfire, hitting, slapping, and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Graphic nudity (including a urination scene and full-frontal shots of both men and women), simulated sex acts, sexual banter. Rachel/Ellis dyes her pubic hair in front of a mirror.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Antisemitic hate words and swearing -- "s--t," "damn," etc. -- in subtitles.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

No products of note, save for Cadbury and a specific kind of stamp.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Apropos for the era, there's plenty of drinking and smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this subtitled World War II drama from the director of Basic Instinct is intense from start to finish. Wartime takes its toll on all the characters, robbing them of their humanity. The lead character, Rachel/Ellis, sleeps with the enemy to infiltrate their turf, and people are dispensed with as the killers see fit. The violence is frequent and bloody, the sex is quite graphic, and characters swear, drink, and smoke. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (5)
• Kids say (2)

Based on 5 parent reviews

A Verhoeven end of WWII film

Extensive graphic sex, what's the story.

BLACK BOOK chronicles the survival journey of Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten), a Jewish chanteuse who becomes a spy for the Dutch Resistance after her entire family is slaughtered by the Nazis. Rachel goes undercover to seduce a Gestapo officer ( Sebastian Koch ) so she can gain access to his office and plant a microphone there. But is the enemy truly an enemy? And are her comrades to be trusted?

Is It Any Good?

No question about it: Paul Verhoeven 's Black Book (aka Zwartboek ) is a World War II thriller that still manages to surprise -- no small thing, considering how many like it have been made. Van Houten is outstanding -- courageous and conflicted, bold and vulnerable, her emotions accessible through a simple gesture (the tilt of her head, the slump in her walk) or even a flick of her eyes. She's incandescent in every frame, even when she's covered entirely in feces (a scene that's disturbing in its plainness and cruelty).

The plot's somewhat rudimentary feel hobbles the storytelling. And, except for the leads, the characters are obviously good or bad, even when the filmmaker thinks he's being subtle. But objections like that aside, what's left is a movie that proves that Verhoeven's talent is bigger than Showgirls and Basic Instinct . The last few minutes, which capture a post-war Ellis (now back to Rachel) in an idyll as far removed from tragedy as can be, are actually moving.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the film's notions of good and evil. Are "bad guys" and "good guys" clearly delineated? Should they be? Also, what drives Ellis to place herself in the line of fire? Is it altruism or revenge? How could she fall in love with a Nazi, when Nazis killed her family? What drives a person to betray others for their own gain? Families also can discuss what this movie has in common, if anything, with director Paul Verhoeven's earlier, infamously sensationalistic films, like Basic Instinct and Showgirls . Does it share any characteristics with those movies? Do you think filmmakers have a certain style that affects all of their projects?

Movie Details

• In theaters : April 4, 2007
• On DVD or streaming : September 25, 2007
• Cast : Carice Van Houten , Sebastian Koch , Thom Hoffman
• Director : Paul Verhoeven
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Sony Pictures Classics
• Genre : Thriller
• Run time : 135 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong violence, graphic nudity, sexuality and language.
• Last updated : April 2, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Black Book Reviews

Verhoeven cleverly avoids conventional wartime good-guy vs. bad-guy storytelling [...] asserting that war makes people do things that may not be correct or righteous, but are compulsory to survival.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 8, 2024

... a riveting World War II resistance thriller with a runaway pace and a gripping sense of peril.

Full Review | Jan 7, 2023

A genuinely epic war drama.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2022

Black Book may be Paul Verhoeven's most visceral film, and that's saying something.

Full Review | Jan 17, 2022

Verhoeven as a director has always blended arthouse and grindhouse aesthetics perfectly, and Black Book is a singular epic.

Full Review | Sep 10, 2021

Carice van Houten is a particularly strong lead, sucking the audience into her morbid world of perpetual torture and misfortune.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 24, 2020

The film manages to turn German occupied Holland circa 1944 into a fast-paced thrill ride without sacrificing the emotional core and very real human toll.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 6, 2019

... [Director Paul Verhoeven] revels in cinema's powers of deception, to conceal and then reveal reality, to cover subversive ideas inside the armour of genre.

Full Review | Oct 2, 2017

Seven years after he disappeared with the whimper that was Hollow Man, Paul Verhoeven has returned with what may be his best film.

Full Review | Apr 7, 2015

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 16, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 16, 2011

The handsomely mounted, heedlessly pulpy modernist World War II thriller that "The Good German" and "Valkyrie" failed to be - a dizzying rush of daring rescues, sexual intrigue, treachery, betrayal, gunfights, hasty conclusions and harrowing consequences.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 25, 2010

It's the last thing a Verhoeven film should be: tasteful

Full Review | Aug 27, 2009

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2008

A slick, thrilling, trashy, melodramatic and serialesque soap opera adventure which conceals the complex tale of moral ambiguity beneath.

Full Review | Apr 18, 2008

While gleefully turning all prior war movie stereotypes on their heads, Verhoeven opts for the bizarre theory that ravishing designing women and lots of sex can change the course of world history.

Full Review | Mar 6, 2008

There are a lot of plot twists at the end of the film, maybe too many, but it will keep you guessing.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 15, 2008

Verhoeven simplesmente mantém sua obsessão habitual com sexo e violência (geralmente combinando os dois), mas sem qualquer sofisticação narrativa ou visual.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 12, 2008

It's engaging as an espionage thriller and as a story of courage and determination.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 5, 2008

(...) A uno le parece estar viendo más un detrás de cámaras que una película en serio, esperando que el director grite "corten" en cualquier momento y que el equipo aplauda por lo bien que salió la toma.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 30, 2007

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance. In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance. In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.

• Paul Verhoeven
• Gerard Soeteman
• Carice van Houten
• Sebastian Koch
• Thom Hoffman
• 277 User reviews
• 216 Critic reviews
• 71 Metascore
• 13 wins & 23 nominations total

• Rachel Stein …

• Ludwig Müntze

• Hans Akkermans

• Günther Franken

• Gerben Kuipers

• Gen. Käutner
• Wim Smaal - Notary

• Tim Kuipers

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Most actors speak more than one language in the film. Carice van Houten speaks four languages fluently in the course of the film: Hebrew in the scenes in Israel, German with Nazi soldiers, English with Canadian army personnel and Dutch for the majority of the film.
• Goofs The B-17 is dropping "slick" bombs at low altitude. They would need to use high drag "retarded" bombs to prevent them from detonating under the plane.

Rachel Stein aka Ellis de Vries : I never knew this would happen. To fear the liberation...

• Connections Edited into Zwartboek: The Special (2006)
• Soundtracks Ich bin die fesche Lola Music by Friedrich Hollaender (as Friedrich Hollaender) Lyrics by Robert Liebmann Performed by Carice van Houten (c) 1930 by Ufaton-verlagsgesellschaft mbH (BMG Music Publishing Germany), Munich

User reviews 277

• Chris_Docker
• Jan 30, 2007
• How long is Black Book? Powered by Alexa
• Why were there soldiers moving in to defend the kibbutz in the final scene?
• May 18, 2007 (United States)
• Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• Official site (Netherlands)
• Official site (United States)
• Cuốn Sổ Đen
• Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
• Egoli Tossell Pictures
• Clockwork Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $21,000,000 (estimated)
• Apr 8, 2007
• $26,768,563

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 25 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The Black Book is like a grittier John Wick and it’s a smash hit on Netflix

Netflix subscribers can’t get enough of the new Nigerian crime thriller The Black Book

If you're looking for a gritty, violent revenge drama that makes John Wick look like The Golden Girls , Netflix may have just the thing for you. The Black Book , one of the most expensive Nigerian movies ever made, is already a commercial smash for the world's best streaming service . It's the most-watched movie on Netflix South Korea and has been the second most-streamed film across South America for more than a week.

The film – not to be confused with the 2007 Black Book by Paul Verhoeven, a film the Guardian described as a "dire and overlong" melodrama about a "mainly topless resistance worker in occupied Holland" – comes from Nollywood, which is the centre of the Nigerian movie industry. It was created by Editi Efflong who, in typical Nollywood style, has had to rely more on ingenuity than cash: Nollywood movies are famously made on very tight budgets that would barely pay for the catering on Hollywood blockbusters. "The most expensive Nigerian movie ever made" still came in at $1 million – 1/100th of the reported budget for John Wick: Chapter 4 .

The film stars veteran actor Richard "RMD" Mofe Damjio as a former military secret agent turned deacon whose child is framed and murdered by corrupt cops. You can probably guess what happens next. 

Is The Black Book worth watching?

It's definitely winning over lots of fans, and while the critic reviews aren't in yet – with the exception of Premium Times NG , which praised the cast and particularly Richard Mofe Damjio, who gets a bit of a backhanded compliment: "considering his age, his acting in the fight scenes is incredible." However the reviewer did feel that the core story was compromised by some too-early revelations that removed some of the suspense.

Decider calls it "the Nigerian hybrid of Taken and Spotlight you didn't know you needed" and identified what appears to be an identity crisis: the film is "always pitched between two very different ways a movie can be without committing to either", torn between being a character study of a man coming to terms with his violent past and acting as an allegory for the Nigerian nation. For Decider, it needs "a stronger sense of cohesion between plot and style."

Over on IMdB , PrincessENewbold was more enamoured but felt that the gunplay overshadowed the story: "it sometimes got muddled with all the shootouts," they write, although "overall it was a really good movie with a cast of heavyweights lead by RMD, beautiful cinematography and a plausible premise."

The Black Book is streaming now on Netflix .

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall ( Twitter ) has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man , is on sale now. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR .

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Black Book’ on Netflix, A Revenge Thriller from the Streets of Nigeria

Where to stream:.

• The Black Book

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Aníkúlápó: Rise Of the Spectre’ on Netflix, A Six-Episode Series Sequel To The Hit Nollywood Fantasy Film

Stream it or skip it: ‘iwájú’ on disney+, about two friends exploring a futuristic version of lagos, nigeria, stream it or skip it: ‘blood vessel’ on netflix, a nollywood thriller that cuts its action with melodrama, stream it or skip it: ‘ijogbon’ on netflix, a nigerian fable centered around another set of uncut gems.

You know Hollywood, you’ve at least heard of Bollywood, but do you know … Nollywood ? That’s Nigeria’s film industry, which is booming enough to give its cinema a catchy name with some cultural caché. Netflix is even getting in on the action with The Black Book , now streaming on their platform.

THE BLACK BOOK : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Corruption is running rampant in contemporary Nigeria within the world of The Black Book , so much so that the police can just openly kill a young man on a beach and expect no consequences for it. But they don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into this time because bereaved father Paul Edima (Richard Mofe-Damijo) is far more than just the pacifistic deacon that he appears. Paul has a checkered past in the country’s military that he’s tried to bury even in his own mind, but the soldier in him re-emerges to take justice into his own hands. Enmeshing himself once more in the web of violence and corruption is not something he takes on alone, however. His journey nack into the underworld that he once inhabited requires engaging with some old allies as well as a surprising new one: a crusading journalist intent on using the press to expose the country’s bad actors.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The Nigerian hybrid of Taken and Spotlight you didn’t know you needed.

Performance Worth Watching: The leads fighting for justice in their own way are good, but it’s Shaffy Bello as Big Daddy who proves the real MVP of The Black Book . She (yes, you read that pronoun right) is a force of nature in her capacity as a high-powered enforcer.

Memorable Dialogue: “The past must die to truly serve the future.” A line so nice they say it twice, once at the beginning without context and again at the end when it means something very different.

Sex and Skin: The Black Book stays focused on the action in the streets, not between the sheets.

Our Take: There’s plenty to admire in co-writer/director Editi Effiong’s dramatic thriller, but there’s little that really inspires a viewer to really lean forward in their seats. It’s always pitched between two very different ways a movie can be without fully committing to either. For example, it’s partially a character study of Paul’s final reckoning with the past, but it’s also somewhat allegorical for the Nigerian nation on the whole. Technically sound filmmaking can only go so far within a work that doesn’t really have a strong sense of what it wants to be. It can’t help but be a bit deflating to watch the big final scenes and know that they could have been a real wallop with a full film’s worth of momentum behind them. 

Our Call: SKIP IT. The Black Book is not nearly bloody nor brooding enough. There are interesting components in this Nigerian thriller, but without a stronger sense of cohesion between plot and style, it feels instantly forgettable.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

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Home » Movies

The Black Book (2023) Review – a dull, long thriller with no payoff

Here is our review of the 2023 Netflix Nollywood movie The Black Book, which does not contain significant spoilers.

There are many lives that one leads, and most of the time, people keep parts of themselves a secret. Parents tend to keep aspects of their lives private from their children, which isn’t always the best case.

Whatever parents might be afraid of happening again to their child may still happen, even while shielding them. Parents can protect their children as much as they can, but once they go on to live their lives in the real world, those same experiences are bound to happen.

READ: Killer Book Club Review

The Black Book   is filled with corruption, and the father’s sins end up hurting the ones he loves most. It’s interesting to see how this story unfolds because of Paul Edima’s past affecting his title of deacon in the present. Edima is questioned based on faith and if he has left that life of his behind.

The Black Book (2023) Review and Plot Summary

The Black Book  shows how people in power can manipulate everyone around them. Once they get into the highest office, they are in complete control and can change the lives of ordinary people.

In the beginning, a woman is in power at the Nigeria Energy & Oil Company. She has been fighting for the little people in her community, meaning small, family-owned businesses. She has tried to protect them for a long time, but some people would want her out of office.

As a result of harming the CEO, her husband and baby are kidnapped by a small community that is opposed to her tactics in office.

For the police to stay off their tracks, they pin the kidnapping on an innocent man who winds up being the son of Paul Edima. What the audience finds out is that Edima used to work for General Issa.

The story is a bit convoluted to keep track of what happens between the men in this film. Edima also was given a black book, and he documented everything that General Issa did when he was part of the gang.

When Edima left to become a deacon, he returned the book to General Issa and left the business behind entirely. He never looked back, but now it has come back to haunt him because they took his son away from him.

Once a journalist gets involved, it gets even more confusing. This journalist, named Victoria, wants to help Edima clear his son’s name. Edima only wanted his son’s body, but the police refused to let him bury his own son.

Edima works with Victoria to get more details on his son’s death and fights dirty to get the confession he needs to clear his son’s name.

Is the 2023 movie The Black Book good or bad?

Black Book is a decent thriller about the corruption sitting right under the noses of townspeople. However, the story isn’t strong enough to keep audiences engaged for long. It becomes repetitive, and it drags out. It’s a bit melodramatic, and the performances aren’t the greatest.

Even Editi Effiong’s direction is lackluster, as he doesn’t frame his subjects in an interesting manner. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel polished, and it’s mediocre.

Is the 2023 movie The Black Book worth watching?

The Black Book , sadly, isn’t worth watching because the most interesting aspects happen in the first half of the film, and it fizzles right after. There’s nothing that happens for the rest of the film that will keep you invested.

There are too many characters in the play, which gets confusing because the run around to clear his son’s name is too much.

What did you think of the 2023 Netflix Nollywood movie The Black Book, and how would you review it? Comment below.

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Amanda Guarragi joined Ready Steady Cut as an Entertainment Writer in June 2022. She is a Toronto-based film critic who has covered TIFF, Sundance Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, and HorrorFest International. Amanda is also a growing YouTuber, with her channel Candid Cinema growing in popularity.

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Yorgos Lanthimos seems delighted in depicting extreme behavior within pristine settings, whether it’s the quiet suburbia of “ Dogtooth ” or the clinical lab of “ The Lobster ” or the opulent grandeur of “ The Favourite .” That glaring contrast between the expectations of decorum and the messy truth of humanity seems to fascinate him endlessly.

Nowhere is this conflict more exaggerated and entertaining than in his latest film, and his best yet, “Poor Things.” Everything here is wonderfully bizarre, from the performances and dialogue to the production and costume design. And yet at its core, as is so often the case in the Greek auteur’s movies, “Poor Things” is about the awkwardness of forging a real human connection. We want to know each other and make ourselves known. The figure at the film’s center, Bella Baxter, seeks to achieve enlightenment, become her truest self, and establish enriching relationships with people who genuinely love her and don’t just want to control her. The nuts and bolts of this story may sound familiar: A young woman embarks on an odyssey of exploration and finds her identity was within her all along. The execution, however, is constantly astonishing.

It's Victorian London, and Emma Stone ’s Bella lives in a tasteful townhouse with the mad scientist who also serves as her father figure. As Dr. Godwin Baxter, Willem Dafoe offers a gentle presence beneath his scarred visage. Bella is a grown woman but behaves like a toddler at first, grunting out words and throwing plates and dancing gleefully around stiff-legged. She calls him God, and that’s actually not hyperbole. We will learn the backstory behind all of this in time, and I wouldn’t dream of giving any of it away here.

Godwin is one of several men who try to mold Bella over the course of her development; one of his students, Max McCandles ( Ramy Youssef ), is another. Max moves in with the intention of assisting Godwin in his research but ends up falling in love with Bella and asking her to marry him, and Youssef brings an element of warmth and reason to this otherwise mad world. But he’s no match for Mark Ruffalo , an obvious cad with the very proper name of Duncan Wedderburn, who whisks her away on a lavish world tour. This consists mostly of vigorous sex in a variety of positions—which Bella calls “furious jumping” in her rapidly maturing mind—and it’s a key element to both her independence and the film’s brash humor.

Reuniting with Lanthimos after “The Favourite,” Stone gives the performance of a lifetime in a role that has a staggering degree of difficulty. This could have gone horribly wrong; instead, what she’s doing is wildly alive and unpredictable in ways large and small. Watching her start out big and broad and fine tune the character little by little, physically and verbally, as Bella evolves is a wonder to behold. She’s doing such technically precise comedic work here, especially during the character’s childlike origins, but eventually she’s captivating when she’s fully in command as a sexually liberated woman. Enormously likable, she quickly wins us over to her side even when she’s being an impudent brat, and she keeps us rooting for her in the face of increasing patriarchal oppression.

Ruffalo, meanwhile, is hysterically funny in a way you’ve never seen him before. He’s both a charismatic Lothario and a preening buffoon. He’s also unexpectedly sexy, and, in time, amusingly pathetic. Also among the stacked supporting cast are comedian Jerrod Carmichael and German legend Hanna Schygulla as traveling companions who give Bella a boost in her quest toward self-possession. A sly bit involving a book on a cruise ship is particularly funny. The petite but powerful Kathryn Hunter , so startling recently as the Witches in Joel Coen ’s “ The Tragedy of Macbeth ,” provides a spicy, spiky presence as a Paris madame, but even that small role includes shading you might not expect at the outset.

So much of what is pleasing about “Poor Things” comes from the specificity of the language. In adapting the novel by Alasdair Gray , Tony McNamara ’s screenplay begins in intentionally disjointed and stilted fits and starts, but it has a rhythmic poetry about it. The dialogue becomes more florid as Bella blossoms in her intellectualism, and it’s a joy to watch Stone seize upon the complexity of her proclamations. McNamara’s writing here isn’t as deliciously mean as it was in Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” but it bounces along with a witty bite all its own.

In creating the grandiosity of this world, Robbie Ryan ’s cinematography is stunningly beautiful in varied textures and hues. “Poor Things” begins in grainy black and white when Bella is more childlike, with plenty of fish-eye lenses and peepholes to keep us off balance and urge us to lean closer. But it steadily opens up into lush, wondrous color as Bella comes into her own; the nighttime skies during the ocean voyage portion of her journey are particularly awesome. This evolution may sound obvious, but it feels like a magic trick he’s pulled off right before our eyes.

The costume design from Holly Waddington convincingly tells Bella’s story in detailed, vibrant ways. Simple white nightgowns in her girlish state give way to puffed-sleeve explosions, each more elaborate than the last. And the production design from Shona Heath and James Price —where to begin in singing their praises? From Godwin’s slightly off-kilter house to a luxurious Lisbon hotel to a cramped Paris brothel, each new setting imaginatively reinvents the kinds of historical images we might think we know, only through an outlandish prism with hints of Escher and Gaudi.

But none of these exquisite technical elements matter if we don’t care about the woman at the center of them. And we do. Bella remains kind and optimistic even as she sees the truth of the outside world, but she’s also learned enough to assert her newfound power when necessary. It’s as if “ Barbie ” were actually about Weird Barbie, but even that idea doesn’t quite do it justice. A more apt description is: It’s the best movie of the year.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Poor Things (2023)

141 minutes

Emma Stone as Bella Baxter

Mark Ruffalo as Duncan Wedderburn

Willem Dafoe as Godwin Baxter

Ramy Youssef as Max McCandless

Jerrod Carmichael as Harry Astley

Christopher Abbott as Alfie Blessington

Margaret Qualley as Felicity

Suzy Bemba as Toinette

Kathryn Hunter as Swiney

Hanna Schygulla as Martha Von Kurtzroc

• Yorgos Lanthimos
• Tony McNamara

Director of Photography

• Robbie Ryan
• Yorgos Mavropsaridis

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Back To Black Review

The greatest sin a biopic can commit is playing footage of the real person over the credits to show how accurate the acting was. You’ll find none of this in Back To Black : most of us lived through Amy Winehouse’s rise, fame and decline, so even the most casual observer can play the footage in their own mind.

An incredibly bold and admirable move, then, for relative newcomer Marisa Abela (BBC TV drama Industry ) to take on what might be the most scrutinised performance of her lifetime. And she is great: Abela can sing, her voice is recognisably the gobby and vibrant Amy, who spoke in interviews without a filter, and the alcohol shakes in the cold light of the corner shop ring true. In a scene set at 2008’s Glastonbury Festival, she gets down off the stage to totter close to the audience on high heels, almost daring the security guards to let her fall. It feels woozy and alive and real.

It’s unfortunate, however, that she is let down by a weak script that tells us even less than we already know. In 2015, Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy showed us extensive archive footage and the few parts of her life she was able to keep from the press. In 2021, the BBC documentary Reclaiming Amy saw the family offer a counter-argument to how they had been portrayed (her father, Mitch, claimed he had a nervous breakdown after Amy ’s release). The aim of this film is to tell us this same story but from Amy’s perspective, but it fails at its most Amy-perspective hurdle: what is it she saw in Blake Fielder-Civil (played here by Jack O’Connell), the man who would become her husband, that the rest of us didn’t? Here, he’s no more than he was in the tabloids.

While the songs act as a musical-like narrative of her life, no time is devoted to showing us how she made them.

Elsewhere, cherry-picked facts allow her father, played by Eddie Marsan, to come off as the unquestioned hero, while other elements of her life have been skimmed over. Her best friends, in reality so close that one of them personally picked out the Dolce & Gabbana leopard-print dress she wore for her cremation, are brief asides in an otherwise Blake-centred tale.

Perhaps the issue is the film’s concept: the script draws its inspiration from her lyrics in Back To Black , and Fielder-Civil was the subject of this second and final album. But while the songs act as a musical-like narrative of her life, no time is devoted to showing us how she made them (pouring them out fully-formed in her bedroom with an acoustic guitar doesn’t count). We see none of the artistic decisions she made in the studio that led to her becoming a phenomenon, or the complicated but powerful singer-songwriter who won five Grammys in one night. In Back To Black , Amy Winehouse is just a girl singing about a boy.

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Here Are the Most Targeted Books of 2023

Amid a nationwide surge in book bans, memoirs and novels that deal with the experiences of L.G.B.T.Q. people or explore race received the most challenges.

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By Elizabeth A. Harris

The most challenged books in the United States in 2023 continued to focus on the experiences of L.G.B.T.Q. people or explore themes of race, according to a report released Monday by the American Library Association.

Amid an explosion of books bans across the country, the association counted more than 4,200 challenged titles , which is the most in a single year since it began tracking this information more than two decades ago. In the years leading up 2021, when the increase really took off, the average number of titles challenged in a given year was about 275, according to the library association.

“More and more, we’re seeing challenges that say, simply, This book has a gay character, or, This book deals with L.G.B.T.Q. themes, even if it has no sexuality in it,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the American Library Association’s office for intellectual freedom. “We’re seeing those naked attacks on simply the visibility of and knowledge about L.G.B.T.Q. lives and experiences.”

Traditionally, books were challenged when individual parents raised concerns about a specific book their child had encountered in school, and libraries have long had processes in place so that parents could prevent their children from borrowing books they consider inappropriate.

But organized groups have led the charge in this escalation, challenging large batches of titles and circulating lists online — sometimes including dozens or even hundreds of books — to encourage parents and others to seek them out at their local libraries en masse.

Parents and organizers who have pushed to remove certain titles say they are trying to protect children from stumbling on books that are explicit or inappropriate for their age.

Increasingly, Caldwell-Stone said, these challenges are taking place not only in school libraries but in public libraries as well. According to the library association’s report, 54 percent of the challenges they tracked took place in public libraries.

The report also highlighted efforts to counter book challenges. Some local elections and initiatives have come out against those trying to restrict access to books, federal legislators have held hearings on the subject and those who oppose restricting access to certain books have had some legal victories.

Here are the 10 most challenged books of 2023, along with the reasons they were targeted. Several, including “Gender Queer,” “The Bluest Eye” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” have been among the most frequently challenged in previous years.

1. “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe

An illustrated memoir by Kobabe, who is nonbinary, was challenged because it contained L.G.B.T.Q. content and was called sexually explicit.

2. “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson

This memoir about the joys and challenges of growing up Black and queer was challenged because of L.G.B.T.Q. content and because it was considered sexually explicit.

3. “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson

A nonfiction book that explores growing as an L.G.B.T.Q. person and includes topics like sex and stereotypes, this was challenged because it included L.G.B.T.Q. content, which was considered sexually explicit.

4. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky

This best-selling book for young adults is about a high school freshman in the suburbs in the 1990s. It was challenged for its L.G.B.T.Q. content, as well as its inclusion of profanity, drugs and rape.

5. “Flamer,” by Mike Curato

“Flamer,” a graphic novel for young adults that draws on the author’s own experience, is about a child at Boy Scout camp who is coming to terms with being gay. It was challenged for L.G.B.T.Q. content and for being sexually explicit.

6. “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison

This was Morrison’s 1970 debut, and follows a Black girl who wishes for blue eyes so she will fit the standards of conventional white beauty. The book also address racism and sexual abuse. It was challenged for its inclusion of rape and incest and because its content was seen as promoting equity, diversity and inclusion.

Tie: “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” by Jesse Andrews

A best seller about high school students, this novel was challenged because of profanity and because it was deemed sexually explicit.

Tie: “Tricks,” by Ellen Hopkins

This novel, about teenagers who fall into prostitution, was challenged for being sexually explicit and including drugs, rape and L.G.B.T.Q. content.

9. “Let’s Talk About It,” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan

A graphic novel about sex and relationships, this was challenged for being sexually explicit and including L.G.B.T.Q. content.

10. “Sold,” by Patricia McCormick

This National Book Award finalist is about a 13-year-old girl who is sold into prostitution. It was challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and included depictions of rape.

An earlier version of this article misstated a title of one of the targeted books. It is “This Book Is Gay,” not “The Book Is Gay.”

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Green Book review – a bumpy ride through the deep south

Mahershala Ali plays a jazz musician who confronts the racism of his driver, played by Viggo Mortensen, in a warm but tentative real-life story

M ahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen are two excellent actors outclassing their material in this amiable, feelgood entertainment, inspired by a true story. Mortensen plays Tony Vallelonga, a 1960s nightclub bouncer from New York who got a job as personal driver and minder to African-American jazz musician Don Shirley (Ali) on a tour through the Jim Crow south – armed with The Green Book, a guide to hotels and restaurants hospitable to black people.

The movie, in fact, has its own green book, negotiating subjects and areas where it needs to tread carefully. Class and race aren’t the only issues – there is also sexual identity, which the film touches on once and then moves on without the principals ever saying another word about it.

In real life, Tony became a show business figure, acting in Goodfellas and The Sopranos ; he died in 2013 and his son Nick is this film’s producer and co-screenwriter, with Peter Farrelly directing. It’s a standard-issue heartwarmer, a liberal white/black tale like Driving Miss Daisy or the recent The Upside . (There are some eerily close resemblances to the latter film, including a moment in which the servant must teach the master about Aretha Franklin .)

Tony’s job is to cure Don of his snobbery and emotional frigidity, and Don must cure Tony of his racism and ignorance – although this half of the equation is fudged. In an initial scene, Tony puts a couple of glasses in the bin because his wife has let two black workmen drink out of them. But the level of fanatical racism this implies pretty much vanishes when Tony meets Don. So their road trip to self-discovery begins, and we hold our breath for when the white good-ol’-boy racists inevitably show up, or for when Shirley wishes to use the white bathroom at those grand places where he has been booked to play.

Vallelonga’s nickname is “Tony Lip”; he tells Shirley this is because of his reputation as a bullshitter. Shirley’s surviving relatives have evidently suspected some “lip” in this film, which appears to erase them from the story in the service of exaggerating his redemptive friendship with Tony.

Well, it’s a handsomely made and watchable picture and there is a real warmth in Ali and Mortensen’s performances.

• Mahershala Ali
• Viggo Mortensen
• Drama films

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Back to Black debuts with soft Rotten Tomatoes rating after mixed first reviews

"Abela conveys her youth, so tellingly at odds with that tough image and eerily mature voice."

At the time of writing, the movie's rating stands at 53% , with the majority of critics left spellbound by Marisa Abela's performance as the soul-singing sensation , while they were rather less impressed by the story's depth.

Below, you'll find snippets from the current reviews, including Digital Spy 's:

"As an approach to telling Amy's story, it's admirable to not focus on tragedy, but it just doesn't work here. This is especially the case as the movie has to include some of that tragedy, from Amy's struggles with addiction to the toxic relationship with Blake. It's a tonal mismatch though, so it ends up feeling sanitised.

"It's ultimately a subjective view on one of the most-scrutinised celebrities of the modern era that attempts to shift the focus onto her musical legacy, rather than her tragedy. For some, that might work and it'll be seen as a celebration of Amy Winehouse. But for others, Back to Black won't do anywhere near enough to change their minds."

Related: Back to Black review: Amy Winehouse biopic fails to hit the right note

The Guardian

"It's a movie with the simplicity, even the naivety, of a fan-tribute. But there's a thoroughly engaging and sweet-natured performance from Marisa Abela as Amy – though arguably taking the rougher edges off. The only time Abela is less than persuasive is when she has to get into a fight on the north London streets of Camden.

" Back 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."

Empire Magazine

"Perhaps the issue is the film's concept: the script draws its inspiration from her lyrics in Back to Black , and [Blake] Fielder-Civil was the subject of this second and final album. But while the songs act as a musical-like narrative of her life, no time is devoted to showing us how she made them (pouring them out fully-formed in her bedroom with an acoustic guitar doesn't count).

"We see none of the artistic decisions she made in the studio that led to her becoming a phenomenon, or the complicated but powerful singer-songwriter who won five Grammys in one night. In Back to Black , Amy Winehouse is just a girl singing about a boy."

Related: Why Marisa Abela was cast as Amy Winehouse in Back to Black

Little White Lies

"Since Bohemian Rhapsody took home four Academy Awards in 2019 , it feels as if music biopics have been coming down the slop chute thick and fast, with debates around their ethics, impersonations and omissions becoming ever more tedious. Sam Taylor-Johnson's Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black , might just be the defining stench emanating from the pail."

"The film doesn't land the same emotional impact as Asif Kapadia's Oscar-winning documentary Amy . Instead, it works best as a love story between the singer and Fielder-Civil – their tumultuous time together inspiring songs like 'Back to Black' itself. Knitting it all together is a terrific turn from Abela, who not only looks the part (tattoos, beehive hairdo, etc.) but gives a remarkable vocal performance, sounding uncannily like the singer on record."

The Hollywood Reporter

"By the end of Back to Black , we've observed Amy rise to fame, fall in love, get heartbroken, and die but we never really get to know what makes her tick. There's a lot of emphasis on her familial relationships, not just with Mitch [Winehouse] and the mother (Juliet Cowan) who barely features, but also with her grandmother Cynthia (Lesley Manville, moving).

"But the film doesn't examine how this seemingly happy clappy North London Jewish family singing Yiddish songs around the piano might have shaped Amy in any way apart from instilling a love of music and getting her into performing arts school."

Back to Black is released in UK cinemas on April 12 and in US cinemas on May 17.

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Reporter, Digital Spy 

Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy , NME and Yahoo Entertainment . 

In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.

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