THE GIRL BEHIND THE NAME.
The filmmaker behind Senna (2011) takes a look at the life and career of British soul and jazz singer Amy Winehouse, done in a similar style. While there are many interviews with friends, family, managers and other people in her life, their words are entirely illustrated with archive footage of Winehouse, some of it never seen before. Even though it doesn’t feel ”directed”, its story moves forward, from Amy’s childhood to her inevitable demise in 2011, in a way that feels natural and increases our understanding of a headline-making artist. Plenty of music clips put her immense talent on display. As for the darkness in Winehouse’s life, interviews with her former husband Blake Fielder-Civil and her father Mitch, makes it painfully clear why it was so difficult for her to break out of destructive patterns.
2015-Britain. 128 min. Color-B/W. Produced by James Gay-Rees. Directed by Asif Kapadia.
Trivia: Mitch Winehouse spoke out publicly against the film, disagreeing with how he was portrayed.
Oscar: Best Documentary Feature. BAFTA: Best Documentary. European Film Award: Best Documentary.
Last word: “There’s a point in the process where you can start correcting your interviewees because you know the story now. I know it. I know when someone’s telling me something true and when they’re making it up. I know when they’re putting themselves in her life. Or, I’ll start saying to people who say they met Amy: ‘I don’t think you really met Amy. The person you describe, that’s not Amy, by that point she’d changed and I don’t know what you’re talking about.’” (Kapadia on how close he got to his subject, The Guardian)
