Movie Review-vie: Amy.

I was introduced to jazz and the soulful music of artists like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone when I was pretty young. Their music was so raw, so sad, and yet there was a satire and wit to it. I felt it summed up all the contradictions of life; I loved it and it  has remained my favourite genre of music. Inevitably one day I stumbled upon the music of the tragically talented Amy Winehouse. I was pretty young when Amy Winehouse died, her death didn't really effect me at the time, I didn't know much about her other then her music. She was just a girl with really big hair, thick, feline eyeliner, tattoos and a substance addiction which she died from in 2011, becoming a member of the 27 club alongside other legends of music that also died at the harrowing age of 27 like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison. 

When Asif Kapadia's documentary Amy was released this year I was interested to go, mainly to learn more about the woman behind the heartbreaking lyrics and haunting vocals I loved so much. I invited Beth along to the movie without telling her anything about it, but when she found out what we were about to see she was less then enthusiastic and a combination of her hesitation and an empty theatre did make me a little skeptical. However, five minutes into the movie I began to relax as Beth whispered "I'm already loving this." and I was too. 

The documentary was a retrospective caught through archived videos of Amy's life in the years before her death. The footage was extremely intense and upsetting as it was so fittingly accompanied by Amy's autobiographical lyrics that narrate her tragic demise. It is no question that Amy was a lyrical genius and an incredible vocalist and perhaps the depth of her talent was only scathed in her short life. We shared in her joys and felt the heavy grief of her sorrow.

As the credits rolled I let myself sob before I turned to see how Beth was feeling, she was silent and before she could talk her chin started to quiver and she was crying too. We left the cinema emotionally exhausted and disillusioned. We talked about it all the way home and all through the next day. 

We had never been this affected by a movie.

Our thoughts on the film were best reflected by Russell Brand, a comedian, author, actor, a friend of Amy's and a recovering drug addict himself, who filmed a video discussing the movie on his Youtube channel in which he pointed out that the true sadness lies within the fact that "there is something about deaths from addiction that feel preventable" and in this film about Amy Winehouse we as an audience are "forced to confront her youth, her talent, her beauty, her vulnerability" and the shameless way so many people took advantage of those facets. 

The film is truly sad, and sadly true and definitely one of the best films I have seen for a while. 

-Alessandra 

*Mosaik does not take credit for the photos used in this article