In Amy, Kapadia eschews talking heads for something more intimate: home videos, photographs, and phone messages from Winehouse’s earliest and closest friends, which he stitches together to reintroduce a version of the singer that has, up till this point, been ignored by the public. It’s an attempt to reverse Winehouse’s vilified public persona, not by denying her struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, but by showing as many parts of her as possible. The musical prodigy, jazz fanatic, and sweet friend, as well as the troubled soul, hurt child, and obsessive lover. She’s far from perfect, but she is human, not some punching bag caricature the media has made her out to be. Though Kapadia’s methods sometimes get a little too close for comfort (using phone messages intended for her friends and private clips of her being high feels borderline voyeuristic), they also feel necessary in reclaiming an identity that’s closer to her true self. During these questionable moments, Amy feels not just hard but wrong to watch, but that discomfort is also the point. It should be unsettling to get to know a real person.
"Amy is alternately thrilling and devastating, throwing you back and forth until the devastation takes over and you spend the last hour watching the most supernaturally gifted vocalist of her generation chase and find oblivion."
— David Edelstein
"Less than a minute into the film and I'm already choking back tears."
— Jane Giles
A documentary on the life of Amy Winehouse, the immensely talented yet doomed songstress. We see her from her teen years, where she already showed her singing abilities, to her finding success and then her downward spiral into alcoholism and drugs.
Using intimate home videos, phone conversations, archival footage, and interviews, director Asif Kapadia looks into British singer Amy Winehouse’s life behind the curtain.
Winehouse’s incredible, indisputable talent, as well as her love for the craft. She was often criticized for not caring enough for it, but this documentary (especially during her scenes with Tony Bennett) easily disproves that.
It’s an unsettling but necessary watch, one that respects its once-in-a-generation singer enough to highlight her multifaceted self.
