AMY (2015)

Genre: Documentary/Biography
Director: Asif Kapadia
Cast: Amy Winehouse, Mitch Winehouse, Mark Ronson
Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Coarse Language and Some Drug References)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 27 August 2015

Synopsis:  From BAFTA award-winning director Asif Kapadia (Senna), AMY tells the incredible story of six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse - in her own words. Featuring extensive unseen archive footage and previously unheard tracks, this strikingly modern, moving and vital film shines a light on the world we live in, in a way that very few can. A once-in-a-generation talent and a pure jazz artist in the most authentic sense, Amy wrote and sung from the heart using her musical gifts to analyse her own problems. The combination of her raw honesty and supreme talent resulted in some of the most original and adored songs of the modern era. Her huge success, however, resulted in relentless and invasive media attention which coupled with Amy's troubled relationships and precarious lifestyle saw her life tragically begin to unravel. Amy Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning in July 2011 at the age of 27.

Movie Review:

“I don’t think I’m gonna be at all famous. I don’t think I could handle it. I would probably go mad.”

Those words from Amy Winehouse in the early part of Amy will strike and haunt you for their far-sightedness in describing what happens to the incredibly talented but flawed music prodigy.

Although we are all familiar with the rise and fall of Amy Winehouse thanks to her unraveling in the public eye, Amy adds another dimension to our understanding of the vocal powerhouse thanks to Asif Kapadia’s masterful storytelling. Kapadia eschews talking heads in favour of home videos and Winehouse’s friends’ responses to difficult questions. Rather than have a narrator weaving the different parts of Winehouse’s life together, Kapadia chooses to let Winehouse’s lyrics tell the story as they float across the screen in a handwritten font. Complete with strikeouts, these confessional lyrics give the impression of reading from the late singer’s diary and being given a personal glimpse into her life.  Although the lack of a voiceover/narration initially makes the entry into the singer’s life a bit jarring and the flow a little unsmooth, it is a perfect approach for it reflects Winehouse’s personality- a refreshingly honest and charming young woman with raw unpolished edges.

The film opens with a now-famous home video footage where a cheeky and vibrant 14-year old Winehouse impersonates Marilyn Monroe at the end of her friend’s 14^th birthday party. Even at that tender age, her voice is far superior to many professional singers and her friends fall silent as they listen to her rendition of Happy Birthday. Her talent is so overpowering that her friend, UK soul singer Tyler James, felt compelled to share a demo with his recording company. During this time, we get to see the shy and sweet teenager wow record company executives and friends alike with not just her talent but her charisma and funniness.  Here, you get to witness her in her prime before the pressures of fame and destructive love cause her to buckle and spiral into unending darkness.

Shortly, Winehouse meets one of the catalysts of her downward descent – Blake Felding-Civil. Winehouse and her future husband embark on a passionate but tempestuous relationship where they get into a cycle of breaking up and reconciling. Her vulnerable side comes through in instances where she obsesses over text messages from Felding-Civil after their first breakup and when she displays her desire to be one with him by deciding to follow in his footsteps of taking drugs just to experience the same highs as him when he gets drugged out. Her hero worship of her father who seems to care more about commercial interest than her exacerbates her downward spiral. Put simply, Amy Winehouse made bad choices and met selfish people in life like all of us do but unfortunately, those bad choices led her to a premature death.

Despite knowing what happens at the end, you find yourself wishing that she will somehow survive and overcome all those adversities. That desire grows throughout the film as you get to know the singer through the snippets her friends share and you find yourself rooting for Winehouse. Hope for Winehouse comes in the form of her two best friends, Juliette Ashby and Lauren Gilbert, as well as her first manager, Nick Shymansky. The trio tried their best to bring Winehouse back from destruction and to protect her from her selfish entourage, resorting to even stealing her passport to stop her from touring after she almost ends up dead thanks to a drug overdose. Eventually though, they choose to walk away from the mess that Winehouse created partly because they can no longer bear to watch her fall and partly in hopes that walking away would motivate Winehouse to sober up.

The mayhem around Winehouse comes fast and furious. Kapadia keeps you transfixed as you witness the Winehouse turn into a trainwreck under relentless public scrutiny. You find yourself wanting to look away but quite unable to do so. 

A brief moment of respite comes when Winehouse gets to record a duet with her idol, Tony Bennett. Here, you see the Amy of old as she nervously pace around the studio, berating herself for not doing it right. Bennett encourages her in a fatherly manner, telling her “Don’t worry, I’m the same”. Comforted by his reassurance, Winehouse rises to the occasion and becomes the perfect singer she was meant to be, purring into the microphone and seducing you with her voice. And for that moment, we get to witness what Amy Winehouse might have been. 

Movie Rating:

(A powerfully honest documentary that documents the rise and fall of Amy Winehouse as she battles her self-destructive tendencies, Amy is as riveting as it is sad)

Review by Katrina Tee