The first half of the film is relatively interesting, we are privy to Winehouse's initial musical influences and style. She always had an incredible voice but her early songs are heavily jazz inspired- unstructured emotional and raw. Here we get a glimpse of something we did not know about Winehouse, the first half of the movie has a purpose, we see where the artist came from, how she evolved.
The second half of the film goes from distasteful to down right offensive. Winehouse's struggles with addiction are shown through numerous compromising photos and video clips, her unsuccessful attempts at sobriety portrayed bluntly without nuance, the filmmakers gleeful bludgeon the viewer with this imagery and this aspect of her life over and over again. Her failed marriage is also exposed to a pitiable degree with long shots of Winehouse and her ex-husband sloppily making out cut with him saying things like "Whose going to pay for this? Amy! I'm broke!" Winehouse's addiction is gratuitously explored but the film says almost nothing about the tragedy of her death or her musical legacy.
Amy insinuates Winehouse's father, ex-husband, manager, and the media at large are partially responsible for her death. It condemns them for exploiting her but the film itself is exploitative. The film does not show the "real" Amy Winehouse as it proclaims on its marketing materials it is in reality a self-righteous synthesized regurgitation of all the tabloid muck that was published around the time of her death.
At the end of the film they squeeze in Tony Bennett saying "I wish she would have lived longer. Life teaches you how to live it if you can survive long enough." An endearing and poignant sentiment but too little too late.
A harsh, thoughtless, voyeuristic look at the tragic life of a virtuoso vocalist who deserves better.
Don't See It.
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