AMY

Saw this documentary about Amy Winehouse today in our local theater with a friend and was knocked out. I knew she had an amazing voice but had mixed feelings about some of her work and her image. But the movie exposed my judgments as pretty shallow.

She was a much more talented music creator than I knew or assumed. Not just that big voice, from the git go (first shot of her spontaneously singing at a friend's birthday party she's fourteen and already sounds like a mature woman, both bluesy and jazzy at once), but in writing melodies and lyrics as well as that brilliantly emotive vocal control and depth. The film seduced me into falling in love with her and her voice while breaking my heart with the tragedy of her addictions and vulnerabilities.

It's amazing how much candid footage there is, and for me AMY was much better edited and presented than the recently released documentary with home footage about Kurt Cobain. In both there is plenty to anger a viewer, or at least this viewer, but in AMY there is almost an equal amount of stuff that made me laugh, or at least smile, or saddened me or touched me or impressed me or had my eyes wet or my heart wide open.

Highly recommended.