With just two albums to her name, Amy Winehouse became one of the biggest music icons in British history. With a voice oft described as a combination of the 60s sound and instrumentation of the same era, Amy brought back a sound many had long forgotten, a jazz/blues/pop style she will always be remembered for. While her music made her a star, sadly her chaotic personal life of drug and alcohol stole headlines.

This over two hour documentary follows the life of the bee hived haired – buck teeth singer, from her childhood days, her fame and fortune, to her troubled life, and ultimately her death that shocked the music industry. The film smartly avoids showing the face of those who speak about the singer, and are heard giving their views of Amy over recorded images and video reels. With her tattoos and tawdry dress, she looked like a middle class girl, not that of a flashy stylish singer. We also get to see her father Mitch and her mother Janis in between shots of old videos. Her father who she reunited with is seen in many videos.

What you also see here is a 1998 home movie of the fourteen-year-old Winehouse singing at a birthday party for a friend, years later performing in various locations in England and posh resorts she was invited to. Her first tryst playing the guitar for a record label producer at his office, her flair for writing some excellent lyrics, to her first record ‘Frank’ and its imminent success. Her second album paved way for songs like Back to Black, Rehab, I told you I was trouble that brought her instant fame. With such success, came the drug and alcohol scene when towards the end of the film, we see a dazed Amy going on a Belgrade stage too drunk to do much of anything more than wander around the stage, with fans baying her to return their money. The only time we see her enjoying herself is when she’s in Miami working on her second album ‘Back to Black’, writing songs on Mark Ronson’s Danelectro, winning 5 Grammy awards and recording a duet with Tony Bennett.

The singer was found dead due to alcohol poisoning on 23rd July, 2011. Part of the 27 Club that houses, Morrison, Cobain, Joplin, and many others.

You can only watch this once. Kapadia makes an extremely compact documentary on the life of the star, covering almost all aspects of her career, love life and also her memorable moments like in a video of her during a 2005 vacation in Majorca (after her boyfriend Blake breaks up with her), where she decides to take a friend on a tour of her house while in character as a Spanish maid. He captures all these videos and puts it together to bring you the entire Amy as a person, thus paying a glowing tribute to the singer.

Rating : ****

Reviewed By Verus Ferreira