I hate to say it but I don't think Amy Winehouse has been dead long enough to warrant a full-length documentary. It's only been five years. Told completely through personal footage, this documentary stitches together a patchwork of privately shot film and voiceover interviews of friends and family of singer Amy Winehouse from her early successes through her disastrous dependency on drugs and alcohol to her untimely death in 2011.
What it gets right: conveying the joie de vivre of young Amy, as well as her alarming prescience about the dangers of fame.
What it gets wrong: conveying any sense of a structure or narrative.
This basically functions as a public eulogy from her friends and family, which makes it sad but not Oscar-worthy. That probably sounds super-harsh but when I think of all the timely, informative docs released this year that didn't get a shot at wider recognition because this took a nomination billet, I can't help but be critical.
Yes, it is tragic that a talented musician died so young. People will always lament what might have been. But it's not like she was murdered by a crazed fan or killed fighting against oppression in some way. At this stage, we don't even know for sure if she'll leave a permanent legacy like Kurt Cobain or simply be a footnote in music history.
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