Review of Amy (2015) by Leon B — 16 Jun 2016

Review:

This is a very well put together documentary about the talented Amy Winehouse who touched many people around the world with her unique voice and powerful words. You get to see her amazing journey from a happy go lucky girl to a famous, self destructive, emotional being and how she used drugs and alcohol to tackle the many issues in her life. When her parents separated at an early age, she had problems with her relationships and when she finally made it big in the music world the pressure from the media became too much. All of her close friends knew that she had serious issues with drugs and alcohol so they tried to help her by sending her to rehab or by holding interventions and near the end of her life, it looked like she had taken a turn for the better but after abusing her body so much with various substances, she finally died on the 23rd of July of alcohol poisoning. Such A Waste! Her amazing song writing skills mixed with a Ella Fitzgerald type voice, made her stand out from the rest and you can tell that every word came from the heart. Her close friends filmed her during her rise to fame, so you get to see the many unpredictable sides to her behaviour. If you wasn't a fan of her music, this documentary is still worth a watch because it really does show that fame and money is not for everyone. Great Watch!

Round-Up:

Although Amy Winehouse was always in the media about her troubled relationships, excessive drug and alcohol abuse and outrageous behaviour, her music always told a different story. It's not everyday that you hear a jazz singer mixed with modern day music and I doubt that we will hear such a talented singer ever again. After watching this documentary, I can't help but think that it was the people around her, especially her boyfriends, that contributed to her questionable death which is why her story is so sad. With that aside, she was the first British artist to win 5 grammy's in one year and she won the 2008 Ivor Novello award for best song, musically and lyrically, for the song "Love Is A Losing Game " so her troubled life might have contributed to these timeless songs. There is an elite club called the "27 Club" which includes different artists that died at 27. Other artist in the so-called club are Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jim Morrison. Strange when you think about it! Anyway, this documentary was made by Asif Kapadia who brought you the award winning Senna and a couple of unheard movies called Far North, The Return and the Warrior. He was the perfect choice for this documentary because he had a lot of inside access to her private footage and unheard of music so this is an honest and truthful documentary that is definitely worth watching.

Budget: $3.4million.

Worldwide Gross: $22million .

I recommend this movie to people who are into their documentary/biography/music movies about Amy Winehouse, in her own words. 8/10.