Amy

The Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy, is so good. It follows her very early career through to her death at age 27. I was very drawn to the earlier footage, and the way it showed her emerging as an artist (for example writing her first songs). She was funny and charming and devoted to her art. I had never heard the music from her first album, Frank, and it was really stunning.

Her life began to unravel after the worldwide success of Back to Black. She and her husband (a true asshole) began using harder drugs and Amy got lost in her excess. She hated the fame, never really wanting to be a celebrity, and key people around her (father, husband, second manager) were just awful and selfish and unconcerned about her demise. She did have some true friends from childhood who wanted desperately to help her but they didn't have enough influence over the others to have any effect.

What I really came away with after watching Amy was a deeper appreciation of her music and artistry and I feel like we were all cheated of decades of amazing work she had left to produce.