‘Amy’ a startling, heartbreaking glimpse of Winehouse

A profound sadness enveloped me during the course of Asif Kapadia’s documentary “Amy,” based on the life and death of jazz singer Amy Winehouse, the remarkably talented British artist who burst onto the music scene at 17, only to crash and burn in the course of 10 years, eventually dying in 2011 at the far-too-young age of 27.

The film is often uncomfortable to watch, prompting that little voice inside each of us to scream out “Somebody help her!” And then we realize how apropos the outrage, for we all watched her self-destruct, via the Internet, tabloid exposes, the cruel humor of late-night talk show monologues, even the now infamous 2011 concert in Belgrade where a heavily intoxicated and emaciated Winehouse, before she uttered a single note, was promptly booed off the stage. One month later she would be found dead from alcohol poisoning in her London home. We watched as her blanketed corpse was removed from the dwelling. Oh how we watched.

The film, compiled from hours of cell phone videos, home movies, newsreels and TV shows, and dozens of interviews with those who knew her best, begins in 1998 when a happy teenage Winehouse, almost unrecognizable without her soon-to-be signature heavy black eyeliner and beehive hairdo, sings a Marilyn Monroe-esque “Happy Birthday” to her best gal pal. Her voice is already captivating.

Soon, her circle of close friends, including Lauren Gilbert, Juliette Ashby and Nick Shymansky (who would become Winehouse’s first manager), would film what seems like all the waking (and some sleeping) moments of Winehouse’s world, as the 16-year-old moves to her first London flat, a ramshackle place where she spends most of the days getting high, and most of the evenings drinking and clubbing and writing some mighty powerful songs. Snippets of her lyrics, as if torn from a journal’s pages, are presented on screen throughout the documentary. She proclaims at one point: “I don’t want to write anything unless it’s personal. I want to tell a story.” Turns out the lyrics are often more revealing than the anecdotes shared by the doc’s myriad talking heads.

By 2005, Winehouse has moved to a nicer home in Camden, North London, where she meets and falls hard for bad boy Blake Fielder-Civil, who introduces her to heroin and crack cocaine and soon marries her. Her downward trajectory, already in motion thanks to years of drug and alcohol use, is fast-tracked by their destructive relationship and their “life is short” credo. Bulimia also has entered Winehouse’s world at this point; the singer becomes nearly skeletal as her addictions ravage her. Fielder-Civil ultimately ends up in jail and divorces Winehouse, leaving her devastated and as self-destructive as ever. Three years later, when an overwhelmed Winehouse wins the 2008 Grammy for record of the year for “Rehab,” she’s shown via satellite declaring “This is so boring without drugs.”

Underscoring all the sadness is the unforgettable soundtrack left us by Winehouse, whose voice was often compared to that of jazz greats Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday. And when you hear her scorching vocals on “Tears Dry on Their Own,” “Back to Black” or “Love Is a Losing Game,” you understand how fitting a tribute those comparisons truly are. Her multi-platinum-selling album “Back to Black” is genius.

The “Amy” story has played out so many times in pop culture. Think: Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Whitney Houston, Cory Monteith and others who battled demons, picked their poisons and paid the ultimate price. For Winehouse, the support from friends and family vacillated between outright concern and looking the other way. Parents Mitch (her estranged father who reconnected with his daughter in the midst of her success) and Janis Winehouse are shown briefly, her dad coming off as an oaf who, in one video sequence on the island of St. Lucia, was more interested in having fans snap vacation photos with his post-rehab daughter than just wrapping his arms around her and whisking her away from all the madness.

The portrait of Winehouse painted by Kapadia (who garnered critical acclaim for his previous documentary “Senna”) is one of a hugely talented young girl struggling to both embrace and escape the trappings of fame and the insanity of a paparazzi-obsessed, social media-driven world, while making truly meaningful and unique music that needed the validation of that world. The most touching moment in the film is the footage of her “Duets II” recording session with Tony Bennett, where he takes a moment to comfort the flabbergasted Winehouse, in awe of her legendary partner and doubting her worthiness. His soothing reassurance is a momentary antidote for all the crap that she has endured. The words come from the heart, full of the love Winehouse so desperately sought in her life, and never truly found.

A24 presents a documentary directed by Asif Kapadia. Running time: 128 mins. Rated R (for language and drug material). Opens Friday at local theaters.

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Posted at 6:30 p.m. on July 7, 2015.