Amy

Director Asif Kapadia and editor Chris King exquisitely weave audio interviews, home movies, archival footage, music recordings, and text to create a disturbing, revealing, and ultimately heartbreaking portrait of singer, songwriter, and pop icon Amy Winehouse. The film illuminates what was special about Winehouse’s talent for those who (like me) were not all that familiar with her work. It also serves as a cautionary tale about the nature of modern fame. We see how Winehouse’s predilections for edgy, dangerous behavior began in childhood, and how nearly everyone around her, even those who cared deeply for her, exacerbated her problems rather than helped her escape them. The filmmakers’ use of text to highlight Winehouse’s lyrics (both in original songs and covers, many previously unreleased) brilliantly connects the themes and emotions she sang about to what was going on at key points in her life. Thus we get a much deeper sense of what drove this young woman than I would have ever expected from a post-mortem biographical documentary about a rock star that lived fast and died young. It’s a profoundly depressing picture, but one that is infused with insight and allure.