Not really this reviewer’s druthers to watch a real-life self-destructive personage’s downfall, but Asif Kapadia’s Oscar winning documentary about the late English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse (1983-2011) proves to be a real knockout with true grit.
Unconventionally ditching the ho-hum format of lyrical-waxing talking heads, Kapadia and his editor Chris King assiduously concatenate chronological segments of Amy’s life through hours of archive footage, live sessions and home videos, with off-screen interviewees elaborating their often wistful comments (segued by Antonio Pinto’s jazzy score), and during the lion’s share of Amy’s vocal renditions, lyrics are inscribed on the screen, to efficaciously stress Amy’s modus operandi, she only writes about what she experiences and feels, nothing is cod or manufactured, and in a way, it is this purist attitude in regard to her vocation that has an adverse effect on her mentation, bespoken by her frustration and eagerness to make a new album after her debut FRANK (2003), which might propel her into drug and alcohol abuse in pursuance of an authentic fount for her inspiration. One could hardly imagine how Tony Bennett, one of Amy’s idols, could have released over 70 albums during his lengthy career if he hews to Amy’s sacrosanct decree.
Tellingly, as Tony Bennett, the pair collaborating a duet version of BODY AND SOUL as Amy’s last studio recording, sorrowfully states near the coda “Life teaches you really how to live it, if you live long enough”. A counterexample of Amy is the success of Adele, who is patient enough to stay completely out of the limelight during the intervening time between her albums, who seems to be unperturbed by the urgency of releasing new materials, from 19, 21 to 25, her upcoming fourth album will be at least called 30 at present point, the gap elongates, but it is a requisite for a songwriter to quietly accrue his or her experiences before the inspiration finally hits, a luxury Amy doesn’t have.
So, what is the whys and wherefores? Apart from her own addiction and healthy problem (a bulimia nervosa victim), Amy’s undoing is collectively, and cumulatively occasioned by a cocktail of negative influences from her self-serving family, a toxic relationship, frenzy media circus and her ill-adjustment of sudden fame and the ensuing pressure (a responsibility easily shirked by the record label, it doesn’t take long for them to simply see Amy as a troublemaker whom they are willing to dump than salvage). It is interesting to read about Amy’s father Mitchell’s vexed reaction of the movie, who is hot to trot to green-light the project (after losing his money spinner, he knows making hay while the sun still shines), but is wrong-footed by the none-too-flattering presentation of his own image, because he might surmise there is apparently a more high-profile candidate who is deplorable for Amy’s perdition, her ne’er-do-well ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civl, a despicable hophead leads a hepcat up the garden path. But Kapadia conscientiously flags up Mitchell’s own grasping nature in one telltale video recording, who has no patience to leave Amy in convalescence after her health is incontrovertibly impaired, to a certain extent, the last straw that pushes Amy off the deep end is his fast-tracked arrangement of her comeback in 2011, her disastrous and last public appearance in a Belgrade concert, and as the story edges near the sad coda, Amy’s own voice also peters out.
All in all, not eschewing the knotty and unsavory cankers that perpetuate a gone-too-soon music genius, Kapadia and co.’s effort is a rewardingly eloquent and candid elegy of Amy Winehouse’s extraordinary talent and cautionary tragedy, yet, one shall not despair, we still have Adele and her music to celebrate and cherish in our mundane presence.
referential entries: Laura Potras’ CITIZENFOUR (2014, 7.5/10), Albert and David Maysles’ GREY GARDENS (1975, 7.5/10).
高清
