‘Close to home’: Camden locals applaud Amy Winehouse biopic

Marisa Abela played the role of Amy Winehouse and Jack O'Connell her boyfriend, Blake Fielder-Civil, in the biopic. Photograph: Courtesy of Dean Rogers/Courtesy of Dean Rogers/Focus Features

After the controversy and a slew of negative reviews in the run-up to the release of the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black, Grace and her mum, Jetta, were apprehensive about coming to see the film.

“My daughter said to me: ‘Oh, I’ve heard really bad things about it.’ So I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like, but when it started, I thought she sounds like her, talks like her and she had the look,” Jetta says. “It wasn’t perfect but you can’t expect somebody to be Amy.”