Amy
Altitude Film Distribution
Young people who die are always martyrs. Throw in some celebrity, or better yet, worldwide popularity and glamour, and you have one of the most devastating public mournings in history. So it was with Amy Winehouse, a woman who never was left alone, whose music was so classic and jazzy that everyone took notice. Troubled from the start, Amy never quite found a way to be happy, making her a tragic figure, and a talent lost too soon. Part of the 27 Club that houses, Morrison, Cobain, Joplin, etc. Winehouse feared her own demise, and did so rightly.
Asif Kapadia has previously dealt with distinguishable public figures in documentaries like "Senna." That documentary was mostly found footage, voice over interviews, and TV interviews. Like that film "Amy" is eponymous and mostly features old footage and backstage filming of Winehouse in many different contexts. There's a lot of film devoted to her before she became a mega star. Amy is wide eyed, inappropriate, and innocent all at the same time. She exudes a perversity and raunchiness, but is also soulful and bluesy. Her first album "Frank" was more understated and less accessible than "Back to Black," which featured the song "Rehab." That song, along with the many other great ballads she wrote and recorded, skyrocketed Winehouse to fame in 2006. A private person and one addicted to drugs and suffering from bulimia, Winehouse had little chance among the world of the royal and rich.
Altitude Film Distribution
My favorite part of the film was the scene where Winehouse discovers she has won the Grammy, but she is most excited about it being announced by idol Tony Bennett. Later in the film they meet, but it's around the time when she was obviously falling apart, and it shows. Though I enjoyed the film's use of footage, there was too much voice over narration and not enough interviews. The film feels off-balance because there's never any true intimacy with the material. This was probably Kapadia's intention, to make us, as the audience feel, as alienated and uncomfortable as Winehouse herself, who occasionally has her own voice overlaid on scenes of her deformed and drug addled body. The pain in her voice is so agonizing that it's beyond uncomfortable. While there are many other subjects that deserve the Oscar more, it makes sense that this film was nominated, for its perverse look into a sad, exploited woman's psyche.
