Amy (2015)

[Vodka Margarine]

I couldn't find a thread for this in here or in Oscillations, so here goes.

For someone with previously next to zero interest in F1, I was enormously impressed by director Asif Kapadia's previous subject Senna. In a similar way, I was never a huge fan of Amy Winehouse if I'm being completely honest with myself, but this made me re-evaluate a few things about the 'fame machine' and the people who are – willingly or not – trapped inside it.

Kapadia's 'collage of footage' style may not be to everyone's taste but I thought this was a real achievement. The sad ending to this particular story is universally known, but Amy goes refreshingly easy on the revisionism and rose-tinting, instead correctly showing the subject pure and undiluted through all her various triumphs and struggles. We are presented with an extroverted and boisterous character, yet at regular intervals a smart, self aware and incredibly funny person also emerges. The glimpses into the complex relationships she had with her father and her husband are compelling, yet uneasy things to witness. Because so much of this film is comprised of private and intimate footage, you feel like a tresspasser intruding on the escalating grimness, an uninvited guest observing but unable to intervene.

I know I must have chuckled along when Amy-bashing became a national sport, such is the power of media bias that all too often trickles all the way down from tabloid news reporting, to comedy and light entertainment and finally embedding itself in public opinion. It made me feel uncomfortable and hypocritical at many turns, which I would assume was kind of exactly what Kapadia was trying to drive home.

[great_badir]

I haven't seen it, but I coincidentally watched Kapadia's Far North on Film4 the other day.  It's proper shit.[NB]Senna is pretty good though, and I am quite fond of The Warrior.[/NB]

[Wet Blanket]

I know nowt about F1 either yet also thought Senna was tremendous. However, I am a big Winehouse fan and knew much more about her to start with, which I think as a result made the obvious manipulation of the material to fit the Greek Tragedy narrative a lot more apparent and, maybe, a tad dishonest.

That said, it does paint a very damning picture of showbusiness and the amoral world of the bohos and hipsters she associated with on the rock and roll circuit. Winehouse was much more clearly a hapless victim of the fame machine than say, Kurt Cobain, who seemed to have its number, but be disgusted by it. 

On another note, I had no idea Blake Fielder Civil had such a sinister voice.

Winehouse's own music, with its painfully honest lyrics, is the best record of her short and troubled life.

[DukeDeMondo]

I went to see this tonight and thought it was an excellent piece of work, but deeply, deeply upsettin, as you'd imagine. That last 40-odd minutes, the sense of someone desperately trying to get out of a situation and havin no clue how to do it... Just infuriating. Sad as it was - though obviously not without laughs, for she was funny as fuck - it made me angry more than anything else. I started feelin the urge to bawl comin on about half an hour in, but managed not to embarrass myself too much until the stuff concerning the phone call towards the end. Then I startin bawlin an snotterin an chokin all over the place. Mind you I wasn't the only one. 

Only complaint is that the lights came back on mid-way through the end credits when half of us were still tryin to Kleenex our faces back up onto our heads without folk seein. 

[fatguyranting]

Heartbreaking stuff. I went on a blistering hit day in the hope that the cinema would be empty and no one could see me crying, but sadly I think the row of eight women in front of me heard me towards the end.

That Blake needs a right kick in the nuts and the scenes where Mitch turns up with a camera crew in tow left me raging.

[DukeDeMondo]

... the scenes where Mitch turns up with a camera crew in tow left me raging.

Me too, but I also felt and feel incredibly sorry for him. I've seen it happen plenty of times - families believing that the son / daughter / whatever is nowhere near as fucked up as folk are saying - "If my daddy thinks I'm fine" - if for no other reason than the son / daughter / whatever in question tells them that's the case. It'll all blow over, she's young, folk are just gettin carried away. The amount of shit you'll tell strangers but hide from - or outright deny to - folk that are closest to you is unbelievable. 

Beyond that, he clearly had no understanding of the situation whatsoever, or why it might not be appropriate and might actually be incredibly harmful, what he's doing. If you haven't been there yourself, and you don't understand what the fuck's goin on, I suppose you might well think there's nothing wrong with turning up with a bunch of cameras. You see cameras all the time, sure, what's the matter with you?

That whole last half hour was just fuckin exhausting, and terrifying, and saddening as fuck. I was prepared for how grim it was going to get, but I wasn't at all prepared for how visceral it was goin to be. It was a proper horror film - or prison film - by the end.

Just an exceptional piece of work, one I've been thinkin about all day. I was a huge fan of our Amy, but I think even if I wasn't, that would have shook me up somethin serious.

[phantom_power]

Echo what everyone says about how sad and depressing this film is. I think her husband comes out of it better than I expected though. He seemed pretty fucked up and self destructive himself. I feel he was more a symptom of her problems than a cause