- Title: Amy
- IMDb: link
Your opinion of Amy Winehouse and her place in modern music is likely to color your view of Amy. The documentary unearths an amazing amount of personal footage of the troubled singer-songwriter while also featuring interviews from those who knew her best. Chronicling her rise to stardom, her drug and alcohol abuse, her struggles with bulimia, and her inability to deal with fame, the movie isn’t always a pleasant look back. Although its story of an insecure self-destructive artist is sadly far too familiar, the documentary deals with its subject matter responsibly.
The tone of the documentary isn’t to point fingers and assign blame (although it certainly suggests certain individuals shoulder more of that burden that others such as Winehouse’s husband and father and the paparazzi), but instead to give audiences a look at the woman behind the celebrity. Presented from the view of those that loved her, the documentary is occasionally too reverential about its star.
Available on both Blu-ray and DVD, Amy includes unused archival footage, acoustic performances of three songs, a pair of trailers, a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette, interviews from Mos Def, music producer Mark Ronson, music producer Salaam Remi, and Jools Holland. Also included is a commentary track featuring director Asif Kapadia, editor Chris King, and film producer James Gay-Rees.
[A24, Blu-ray $24.99 / DVD $19.98]