In a summer of blockbuster films scoring big at the box office it’s an understated documentary about tragic singer Amy Winehouse that is grabbing the headlines.
Directed by the man behind the critically acclaimed film documentary Senna, Amy tells the moving, sad, intimate and passionate story of the soul queen who died from alcohol poisoning at just 27-years-old. Above all else, it serves as a reminder of just what a talent this girl from North London was.
Director Asif Kapadia tells the story through archive footage and photos, including chat show interviews, award ceremony coverage and private videos taken by friends. These are accompanied by audio interviews with ex-husband Blake Fielder, Dad Mitch, Mum Janis, friends and acquaintances and Amy herself.
The film starts with her teenage years and the impact on her of father Mitch leaving the family and then later returning as one of her main influences, and it’s perhaps not surprising that Mitch and the Winehouse family have disowned the film.
Her music is, of course, at the heart of the documentary, and the song lyrics run alongside the music as it plays, giving the audience an opportunity to pay greater attention to what her songs are saying.
No one, for obvious reasons, wants to have the finger of responsibility pointed at them for Amy’s decline into drug and alcohol dependency, or for not getting her help when it was needed most. Instead the director lets us make our own mind up.
The ending of the film is inevitable, but despite this it still makes for gripping viewing and has to go down as another triumph for the filmmaker.