It's difficult to sum up a celebrity's entire life in a two-hour film, even if that person died at a young age. Placing that person's public moments in the proper context, showing some of the private moments to provide insight, revealing influences, hopes, fears and struggles to provide understanding and digging deep enough to suggest lessons the audience can learn from that celebrity's life – it's a lot to cover. Filmmakers have to decide what their focus should be, what to include, what to delve into, what to summarize and what to leave out. In addition, if the film is a documentary, they need adequate video and audio to tell the aspects of the story that they've chosen to tell. If they don't have video, they have a radio program and if they don't have audio, they have a book. It's all those challenges the makers of "Amy" (R, 2:08) had to confront. They did it fairly well on the surface, but could have dug deeper.
British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in her London home on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27, a sad ending that gives this documentary on her life much of its power. The filmmakers know that and focus on Winehouse's rise to fame and her struggles with being famous, all of which can be said to have led to her death at the same age that also we lost musicians Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain (the so-called "27 Club"). Those who are drawn to Winehouse's story because of the tragedy of her premature demise will indeed get some answers as the film discusses the struggles she had dealing with the price of fame and her resulting problems with drugs, alcohol and bulimia nervosa. Those who are fans of her music will get a generous helping of stories about her rise to fame and samplings of her music.
Director Asif Kapadia was fortunate enough to have an abundance of material to use in telling Winehouse's story. No narrator is needed, as interviews with the singer's family, friends and music industry professionals provide the necessary exposition. But these are not talking heads. Almost all the soundbites are short and are edited in as voice-overs, with on-screen fonts identifying the speakers. The film's visuals include home video of Winehouse, from her teens onward, news clips, television appearances and concert footage. In the scenes of her musical performances, the words to her songs are subtly and artfully presented on the screen as she sings. Throughout the film, dates and locations also appear on the screen to provide the necessary sense of time and place, while the transitions to different events and periods in the subject's life are otherwise seamless.
"Amy" provides a very good summary of Winehouse's career, personality and life as she transitioned from "just a girl who can sing" to a worldwide celebrity, but it should have gone farther. Some of the time spent delving into her personal relationships could have been surrendered in favor of revealing aspects of her life which were almost completely ignored, such as the evolution of her sense of style, her significant charity work and her efforts on behalf of other musicians. We also could've done with fewer details and soundbites concerning her drug and alcohol abuse, if it meant more analysis of who or what was to blame for her problems. In spite of missed opportunities to make itself more meaningful, this film is a revealing personal portrait of a unique talent and a lost soul who died much too young. "B"
British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in her London home on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27, a sad ending that gives this documentary on her life much of its power. The filmmakers know that and focus on Winehouse's rise to fame and her struggles with being famous, all of which can be said to have led to her death at the same age that also we lost musicians Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain (the so-called "27 Club"). Those who are drawn to Winehouse's story because of the tragedy of her premature demise will indeed get some answers as the film discusses the struggles she had dealing with the price of fame and her resulting problems with drugs, alcohol and bulimia nervosa. Those who are fans of her music will get a generous helping of stories about her rise to fame and samplings of her music.
Director Asif Kapadia was fortunate enough to have an abundance of material to use in telling Winehouse's story. No narrator is needed, as interviews with the singer's family, friends and music industry professionals provide the necessary exposition. But these are not talking heads. Almost all the soundbites are short and are edited in as voice-overs, with on-screen fonts identifying the speakers. The film's visuals include home video of Winehouse, from her teens onward, news clips, television appearances and concert footage. In the scenes of her musical performances, the words to her songs are subtly and artfully presented on the screen as she sings. Throughout the film, dates and locations also appear on the screen to provide the necessary sense of time and place, while the transitions to different events and periods in the subject's life are otherwise seamless.
"Amy" provides a very good summary of Winehouse's career, personality and life as she transitioned from "just a girl who can sing" to a worldwide celebrity, but it should have gone farther. Some of the time spent delving into her personal relationships could have been surrendered in favor of revealing aspects of her life which were almost completely ignored, such as the evolution of her sense of style, her significant charity work and her efforts on behalf of other musicians. We also could've done with fewer details and soundbites concerning her drug and alcohol abuse, if it meant more analysis of who or what was to blame for her problems. In spite of missed opportunities to make itself more meaningful, this film is a revealing personal portrait of a unique talent and a lost soul who died much too young. "B"