(Amy Winehouse. Pic AlexLake)
Documentary on Amy
Winehouse a work of art. (Review by Pranesh Maharaj)
Amy is a work of art. I mean it. It’s like somebody painted her life,
albeit short. I like what Asif Kapadia, the director, decided to do with the narrative.
‘The narrative?’ you say. It is a documentary but put together so beautifully.
I went to watch this film armed with the fact that I watched the TV documentary
What Really Happened – The Amy Winehouse
story. So, I was able to soak in the more intimate bits of Amy.
Many artists suffer
similar fates and for various reasons. A guest who came along to watch thought
initially that this is just the circus of another artist’s short-lived life.
What with all the baby videos and stills that it opens with, I would have
guessed the same. As if Kapadia decided to take us on a journey of a normal
girl from a typically dysfunctional family who has the support of her
grandmother and so you think nothing can go wrong. I have my own deductions
amidst the family dissing this film and I will give it to you straight. Nothing
was ever wrong with Amy; it was the people around her.
Expect some shaky
shots as almost the entire movie is made up of bits of video taken by handheld
cameras and phones. What I found very intriguing was that Kapadia deliberately
used Amy’s eyes for most of his transitions. It wasn’t haunting. It was full of
soul. ‘…he went back to her and I went
back to black’.
The other
documentary didn’t make me feel for Amy’s life like this one. I now want to
listen to her more, I want to feel her music more and I want to understand her
more via her work. One of the things that I took away from this film was that
Amy Winehouse’s poetry was brilliantly fused with her unique and melodious
voice; she brought a new sound to jazz. Many musicians spend their entire lives
trying to come up with a new sound. She just had it. She didn’t set out to
create it. It was who she was.
The film does end
with a deep jab at the people who acted with less or no interest in Amy the person;
and deservedly so. The shutter sounds of paparazzi cameras make for a symphony
backing her tragic demise. The texture of video clip sound, the recorded
commentary of friends and family; and the background score evened out very
nicely to keep the viewer glued to this piece that was very respectful to Amy.
It is PG16 and you want your kids to watch it.
Produced by James
Gay-Rees, Amy will run at Cinema
Nouveau, Gateway, from May 6 to15. - Pranesh
Maharaj