Amy Reflection
"Jules, this is so boring without drugs."
Amy Winehouse tragically joined the 27 Club in 2011 along with some of the other greats including Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. Asif Kapadia’s documentary, Amy, focuses on Winehouse’s life and death and shines a giant light on how complex the singer’s life actually was, beyond all of the scandalous tabloid publicity. She was the woman who had everything: fame, money, and God-given talent yet, was on a constant self-destructive downfall until she hit rock bottom. The film especially emphasizes how vulnerable Winehouse really was and how much she wanted to be loved, despite having such an outgoing, edgy persona. The mix of homemade video snippets and professional ones showed just how much Winehouse’s personality changed daily. It was obvious that she was very much in her element when with people she was close to or even in a recording studio. With concerts, she had to force the image that fooled fans into thinking she was entirely comfortable with herself. What stayed parallel with both filming styles was that no matter where Winehouse was, she always was the main attraction and anyone’s eyes would immediately shift to her. Many unheard tracks were featured in the movie, including her cover of Johnny Mercer’s “Moon River,” which struck a chord in me. It is such a romantic yet nostalgically sad song and connecting it back to Winehouse’s troubled life is haunting. Love was the theme that kept creeping back and I was disturbed and saddened to see how much Winehouse allowed all of her dysfunctional relationships to rule her life. The media attention did nothing to help and seemed to revel in the crazy, addiction-fueled trysts. Kapadia ended the movie in the best way possible with Winehouse’s best friend, Juliette Ashby, talking about her final call, funeral footage, and clips from throughout her life. He conveys that she would have never gotten a happy ending and her demons are the ones to blame. While this entire film is (and should) be about Winehouse, Kapadia brings up the bigger issue of how deadly addictions can be and how everyone needs to ask for help if they feel they cannot aid themselves. Sadly, it was made obvious early on that Winehouse was beyond the point of help. She was stuck in limbo up until death trying to figure out how to separate the artist from the celebrity and the people she surrounded herself around did not do much to help her. Amy Winehouse deserves nothing but sympathy and respect but most importantly, after this film, her death can serve as a lesson for people to treat one another better, get help, and always reach out to others who might need a shoulder to lean on.
