Amy Winehouse may be remembered most for her song "Rehab", an ironic song obviously stating that they tried to make her go to rehab but she said, "No, no, no."
Winehouse shone in the music-industry heaven with the "Back to Black" album winning her five Grammys but as stars go, the songstress shone brightest when she was about to explode. And so, on July 23, 2011, another 27 year old star sizzled off under too much pressure of being famous.
What people are curious about, of course, is the story behind, the why in all celebrity train wreck stories. Why would a person appearing to have anything they wanted go the distance in destroying themselves?
It is that story that documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia set out to tell in his harrowing take on "Amy". Backed up by a wealth of home videos, candid footage, personal recordings, cellphone videos, paparazzi shots, concert films and interviews with Winehouse and those who are supposed to know her best, the docufilm "Amy" could not have been a more insightful take on the life of the tragically flawed artist.
The movie consistently affects as Kapadia turns away from standard interviews in favor of dynamic storytelling. His style made moments in the film more eerie and effective as when Winehouse herself says in one interview, "I don't think I'll be at all famous. I don't think I could handle it. I think I'd go mad."
Kapadia did not glorify or make excuses for Winehouse in "Amy", rather he was able to present the artist whose talents are to be missed and mourned but also pitied as a stubborn victim surrounded by enablers as she get caught up in a downward spiral of addictions and insecurities.
The truth-first approach of Kapadia's sad documentary fills "Amy" with a sense of honesty that greatly impacts the emotional aspect of the film. Towards the end, the neo-soul singer Amy Winehouse is shown barely able to sing onstage and Kapadia explains that, "Part of the intention of the ending is to ask, 'How did we let this happen? How did we let this thing go on, and nobody stepped in and stopped it?"
