Amy Movie Review
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Powerhouse, intelligent, sassy, loving, manipulative, troubled, addictive personality (in every sense of the word), and cynical were just a few words I thought about Amy Winehouse while watching this documentary. Not once did anyone question her talent or ask her to prove herself, because once was enough to know that she was the real deal. Her voice was one in a million, so pure and raw. The industry only ever wondered if she could write music, boy could she ever.
Amy left behind many who loved her when she passed away in 2011. A lot of fans want more answers. What happened to Amy, wasn’t she doing better? Did her horrible ex-husband have something to do with this? What about her dad? She notoriously had some horrible people around her, including her father and ex-husband (whom many accuse of introducing Amy to drugs). This film has no definitive answers to such speculations. In some regards, you have to come to your own conclusion. It has been established that Amy died of alcohol poisoning. She had severe bulimia as well as a history of drug abuse.
The film truly immersed itself in to Amy’s life. Providing interviews with her parents, best friends, managers, and body-guard. Using footage shot over the years by friends and family. We as the viewers are presented a version of Amy that is hard to capture in an article or single interview. The documentary itself was really well done, tying in her songs and allowing the written lyrics to fade in to the scene. The interviews feel intensive and we are a shown a young woman with an incredible talent, who was thrown into a lifestyle that she was not capable of handling. Normally when people experience strife, they have people to turn to in times of woe. With her passive mother incapable of any sort of discipline, egotistical boyfriend, who turned into a selfish drug addicted husband, and narssistic father with an agenda in acquiring money for himself; Amy battled demons with demons.
Throughout the film your heart will go out to her best friends whom she slowly pushed away in the years before her death. They were devasted and wanted to get her help right away. Possibly the most alarming scene was when her original manager (who quit because he could not watch her embark on the path of addiction) informed us that they had staged an intervention years before Amy had hoardes of paparazzi around. Her father stepped in and (for some reason, and still to this day) was convinced she was fine. At this point she was slightly famous. This is the same parent (as well as her mom) who knew she had bulimia in high school but did nothing to help. This experience is recounted in the hit single “Rehab”
“They tried to make me go to rehab
I said, “no, no, no”
Yes, I been black
But when I come back, you’ll know, know, know
I ain’t got the time
And if my daddy thinks I’m fine
He’s tried to make me go to rehab
I won’t go, go, go”
Amy had moments of sobriety. One of which was when she won 6/8 Grammy’s including “Best New Artist”, “Record of the Year”, and “Song of the Year”. After her friend expressed elation and asked how she felt, Amy replied with the observation that “this is so boring without drugs.”
Amy possessed an astounding gift as a soulful singer and a master lyricist, but at her core, she was a young woman who needed more help, and less admiration. She had a cynicism all her own and I have no doubt that she would have rolled her eyes and mouthed-off about half of the celebrities professing their love for her after her death, but it is fascinating that someone who was on earth for so short a time could have such an impact on an industry as a whole.
Amy left behind many who loved her when she passed away in 2011. A lot of fans want more answers. What happened to Amy, wasn’t she doing better? Did her horrible ex-husband have something to do with this? What about her dad? She notoriously had some horrible people around her, including her father and ex-husband (whom many accuse of introducing Amy to drugs). This film has no definitive answers to such speculations. In some regards, you have to come to your own conclusion. It has been established that Amy died of alcohol poisoning. She had severe bulimia as well as a history of drug abuse.
The film truly immersed itself in to Amy’s life. Providing interviews with her parents, best friends, managers, and body-guard. Using footage shot over the years by friends and family. We as the viewers are presented a version of Amy that is hard to capture in an article or single interview. The documentary itself was really well done, tying in her songs and allowing the written lyrics to fade in to the scene. The interviews feel intensive and we are a shown a young woman with an incredible talent, who was thrown into a lifestyle that she was not capable of handling. Normally when people experience strife, they have people to turn to in times of woe. With her passive mother incapable of any sort of discipline, egotistical boyfriend, who turned into a selfish drug addicted husband, and narssistic father with an agenda in acquiring money for himself; Amy battled demons with demons.
Throughout the film your heart will go out to her best friends whom she slowly pushed away in the years before her death. They were devasted and wanted to get her help right away. Possibly the most alarming scene was when her original manager (who quit because he could not watch her embark on the path of addiction) informed us that they had staged an intervention years before Amy had hoardes of paparazzi around. Her father stepped in and (for some reason, and still to this day) was convinced she was fine. At this point she was slightly famous. This is the same parent (as well as her mom) who knew she had bulimia in high school but did nothing to help. This experience is recounted in the hit single “Rehab”
“They tried to make me go to rehab
I said, “no, no, no”
Yes, I been black
But when I come back, you’ll know, know, know
I ain’t got the time
And if my daddy thinks I’m fine
He’s tried to make me go to rehab
I won’t go, go, go”
Amy had moments of sobriety. One of which was when she won 6/8 Grammy’s including “Best New Artist”, “Record of the Year”, and “Song of the Year”. After her friend expressed elation and asked how she felt, Amy replied with the observation that “this is so boring without drugs.”
Amy possessed an astounding gift as a soulful singer and a master lyricist, but at her core, she was a young woman who needed more help, and less admiration. She had a cynicism all her own and I have no doubt that she would have rolled her eyes and mouthed-off about half of the celebrities professing their love for her after her death, but it is fascinating that someone who was on earth for so short a time could have such an impact on an industry as a whole.
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