Amy (Oscar nominee)

Amy

Asif Kapadia's haunting documentary Amy brings a lost voice to life. This documentary, which is up for Best Documentary Feature and is the expected winner, is so successful because it makes Amy Winehouse feel like a character in her documentary even though she is dead, something that other documentaries find difficult. The movie utilizes an intense depth of archival footage and interviews with Amy and others which add to this effect and offer some awful foreshadowing. Numerous times Amy says to interviewers that she would "off herself" if she ever became famous. While she never intentionally commits suicide, her lifestyle and intense drug and alcohol abuse lead to her tragic death. The film, however, paints numerous other individuals as culpable in her death. Her father, despite her desire to be left alone, brings a camera crew along to film a documentary about his life as Amy Winehouse's father. Her manager continues to have her play shows without her becoming completely clean. The media make jokes at her expense and constantly harass her. The film does a great job of showing how Amy wanted to get better and even does for a while but highlights the difficulty of addiction and how easy it is to fall back on drugs and alcohol. The two most memorable moments of the film are the beginning and end. The film opens with an establishing shot on some home video footage with Amy and her friends on her friend's birthday. They begin to sing Happy Birthday and immediately Amy's voice takes over and controls the song. While any death from alcohol or drugs is tragic, her's was especially sad because she was such a talent and so much great music was lost through her death. The film ends on Tony Bennett, a collaborator of Amy's, speaking over scenes of her funeral. He says, "Life teaches you how to live if it if you live long enough". This leaves viewers thinking that if she could just have gotten help and escaped some of the pressure of being famous, she could have matured and gotten better. I enjoyed this film thoroughly and, while it was a bit long and tedious at times, was greatly affected by it. I would definitely recommend this film and it will likely, along with Brie Larson for Room, will bring A24 Studios their first Oscars.