What makes Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy so remarkable — and ultimately so devastating — is the vast number of video resources the filmmaker is able to pull from in order to construct this powerful portrait of pop singer Amy Winehouse. Drawing from home movies, videos of club dates, concert footage, interviews and personal digital files, the filmmaker is able to present the full arc of the singer’s life, adding a powerful sense of poignancy to the tragedy that unfolds. In a sense, this is a landmark documentary, a true product of the 21st century that provides the sort of intimate portrait that is only made possible by the proliferation of portable video and the willingness of the owners of this footage to share it as a tribute to the friend they miss so much.
If anything, Kapadia shows that a perfect storm of toxic elements formed around Winehouse, cutting off many of her avenues of escape. The footage of her behind the microphone, especially during a captivating sequence that sees her recording with her idol Tony Bennett, underscores once more not simply the tragedy in regard to the loss of her talent but that a sensitive soul was tragically cut down before it could fully mature. Captivating as well as infuriating, Amy is a film that allows us to see the talented, troubled young woman behind the sensationalist media image to devastating effect. This vivid chronicle of Winehouse’s quest for success and her undoing due to the fame she never sought proves to be one of the best documentaries in recent years.
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