A review of Amy

Monique and I saw Amy last Thursday. 
 

From RottenTomatoes.com “As riveting as it is sad, Amy is a powerfully honest look at the twisted relationship between art and celebrity -- and the lethal spiral of addiction.” 

It gets a 97% on the critics Tomato meter.

I agree. 

Some of the footage was such high quality that I found myself wondering if some of it was re-enactment instead of archival. Amazing quality. Amazing frankness.

Director Asif Kapadia does a lovely job of letting her story simply speak for itself. It would have been easy to build a narrative like “fame destroys” but we are left to sort out our own thoughts.

Yes, Amy needed better people around her. Her husband and father jump out as people usurious of her fame and money. Her mother jumps out as utterly absent. Yet, she is not surrounded by people preying on her. There are some good people – some of her childhood friends and her bodyguard show well. It does illustrate the complexity of relationships with fame and money. Everything changes when you become a star, including your friends and the motivation of those around you.

There is one powerful quote from an addictions expert that goes something like, “When an artist is making a lot of money for a lot of people it’s very difficult for them to get the help they need as there so many competing interests at stake.”

I remember frequent on-air conversations about Amy in my radio days. It was hard to watch such a public self-destruction.

In the end I was left not with the feeling that fame and money destroy people but that fame and money contribute to the destruction of some people. Amy was a deeply troubled soul before she ever came to fame. It’s certainly possible that money and fame enabled her to indulge in a lifestyle that might not otherwise have been available to her but it seems that she was headed for a difficult life no matter her fame.

The impact of a producer on a musician is also obvious. The juxtaposition between her early, raw talent and Back to Black is remarkable. Credit to Salaam Remi who obviously had a significant hand in her sound.

Great documentary. Brilliant quality. Brilliant editing. Deeply sad and hard to watch. Very moving because I am such a fan. No great revelations, just a simple, poignant telling of a public life.