“I think that this story is putting Amy right back in the center of her story,” says Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director of the new Amy Winehouse biopic. Told from Winehouse’s perspective, the film follows the singer from her adolescence to her death, at 27, from alcohol poisoning. Predominantly centered around the making of the album Back to Black, her second and last, the narrative holds addiction and the paparazzi accountable for the singer’s fate. Speaking to the BBC about Winehouse’s ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell), Taylor-Johnson said, “We had to understand why Amy fell in love with him, so it wasn’t about making a one-dimensional villain. We had to fall in love with him to understand why she wrote one of the greatest albums about their love.” Maria Abela, who portrays Winehouse and does her own singing in the movie, recorded vocals at Abbey Road Studios with the singer’s former band. The biopic has received mixed reviews, but we think it’s worth watching. —Jeanne Malle