Amy (2015)

Amy (2015) is Asif Kapadia’s intimate documentary portrait of British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse that stitches together archival footage, home movies, concert performances and candid testimonials to tell the full arc of her life. The film traces Amy from a confident, precocious teenager with a unique voice and a deep love of jazz, through her rapid rise to international stardom with Back to Black, and into the destructive spiral of alcohol, drug addiction and fraught personal relationships that ultimately ended her life. Watching Amy you experience both the thrill of her extraordinary talent and the heartbreak of her decline. The documentary places you close to her performances and studio sessions so her voice and presence feel immediate, then juxtaposes that with private home clips and interviews that reveal her vulnerability, wit and contradictions. Through testimony from friends, collaborators and footage of Amy herself, the film also examines the pressures of fame, intrusive tabloid attention and the complicated dynamics around her relationships and family. Emotionally powerful and often raw, Amy is as much a celebration of Winehouse’s artistry as it is a tragic portrait of a life overwhelmed by forces big and small. Viewers will leave moved by the music, unsettled by the decline they witness, and with a clearer, more personal sense of who Amy Winehouse was beyond the headlines. The film won wide critical acclaim, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Actors: Amy Winehouse, Mitch Winehouse, Mark Ronson

Director: Asif Kapadia

Runtime: 128 min

Genres: Biography, Documentary, Music

7.3 /10 85 /100 7.8 /10 7.9 /10