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I hated Amy (2015) and I knew her more than anyone


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#1 orangevanilla

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 07:57 AM

WARNING: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS OF A FILM THAT CONTAINS NO SPOILERS

Imagine waking up in morning. As you begin your morning routine, you play the tele in the background for the weather. But before the weather, a trailer plays for the movie of your favorite artist.

The trailer is titled "Amy".

The trailer is not where you first hear about the film, because you've already been following since the beginning.

But it plays and you listen and you wonder..."this film must be good".

You never think "this film will be the most cheap and disgraceful doc yet".

You may even think, "I'm very excited to see it. I will preorder tickets and check for when it plays in my city."

 

So back to the narrative. You are on your way to work and before heading on bus, you pick up a newspaper. In Bold, "AMY(2015) HAUNTINGLY memorable".

 

Amazing. Word is getting around quick. You check the amywinehouseforum, as you've done for years, to see what the word of fellow fans is. The word is universal. The word is,"sad". The word is,"yes"...the word is from people who've viewed the film, and liked it.

 

Great. You've impulsively, yet deliberatly preordered 2 tickets for the film. One for you and one for your mum who knows nothing about amy, aside from her hit single rehab. Sigh. This doc will teach her. It'll show her the true gem that Amy was. It's sold out so you order tix for the 10 o'clock show. You justify the fact that it's a work-night with all of the great reviews and opinions. After all, this was your hero. This was a person that you've watched EVERY interview, tweet, picture, concert possible for years.

 

This was a person that you were more intimate with than the director. How worth it, you think.

 

FF : GUYS YOU ARE ME. AND I AM VERY DISSAPOINTED WITH THE FILM.

 

I saw it tonight...I'm not a professional reviewer of the film. but you could call me a professional lover of Amy. I am not blake, mitch, or jannette (or whatever her "bestfriend"'s name was".) But here's my perspective:

 

The film was just a nicely edited montage of (rare &) SHORT personal amy clips, her performances, soundbites of her friends, and a whole lot of filler. The film's narrative went as such: amy was young and rebellious, even troubled, she went on to meet blake, got into drugs and couldn't quit. the big, bad, paparazzi covered all of it. and amy was not in control at all.

Why I may agree that amy was addicted to drugs, she was by no means helpless or abandoned.

literally this is an outrage and so far from the truth of amy's character.

 

As the #1 resource for amy, I ask you fans,

Where in the movie, was amy's brother...any information about her in school, dionne brumfield?? AMY WAS WAY MORE THAN A PROMISCUOUS DRUG ADDICT ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

The bbc covered her more accurately than this. I wish i was a writer so i could articulate better, or a documentarian myself. or even a person with money. 

 

but please, don't take this film as the truth. it's not.


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#2 Guest_Chris_*

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 11:09 AM

What exactly makes you the #1 resource for Amy Winehouse?

#3 melnyk

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 11:20 AM

Maybe she meant that the forum is the #1 resource? :)


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V.Melnyk


#4 Guest_Chris_*

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 11:55 AM

Maybe she meant that the forum is the #1 resource?


I misunderstood the sentence.



#5 TBR

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 11:59 AM

With the greatest respect, you're entitled to your opinion but I don't feel the film did her any real injustice. I've been following her since 2004 and know her backstory pretty intimately; of course a two hour film is never going to capture the full spectrum of influences and circumstances regarding Amy. The film never set out to state why things turned out how they did. No one person is ever going to be able to accurately state as fact why Amy was how she was, or why she ultimately died. A lifetime of choices, conversations, outside influences, thought processes etc are never going to be able to be captured or summarised.

 

But the film is a beautiful and jarring overview of her life. Her brother wasn't included because he didn't want to participate and has always been notably private regarding his sister. Dionne was pretty inconsequential in the scheme of things, and that combined with her school days were never going to be vital enough to be included in a two hour cut. The whole point of the film is that she was more than a "promiscuous drug addict". It humanises her in a way no real media source has in a very long time, if ever. At the same time, however, it's not going to gloss over things we've always known to be true of Amy (the drugs, the affairs et al).

 

We can all try and speak of what we think we know of Amy but let's be honest, we didn't know her. We only ever saw a public perception of Amy, one which she often fronted out. Who really knows if she felt "helpless or abandoned"? The people around her have been saying for years how lonely she was towards the end, and that she'd Skype people often in a drunk, dishevelled state just wanting to talk. Janis made it clear in her book that Amy wasn't really functioning as a normal human being towards the end and that she was a bit of a drunk mess so I had no real issues with implications made that she wasn't doing too well in her last year.



#6 Soul Power

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 02:33 PM

It's Mitch :D


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#7 Deep Regret

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 03:41 PM

We all walk into the movie theater with a bit of a different understanding, so I guess it only makes sense we walk out of it the same way. I'm not seeing it until Sunday, so I'll reserve judgment until then, but I'm expecting to enjoy it for the previously unseen footage alone.

 

(On a random note: I at first read the topic title as to mean that you hated Amy the person, not the movie. Glad to know that isn't the case.)  ;)


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"So he tries to pacify her, but what's inside her never dies."  :amy_winking:


#8 inwinoveritas

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 04:14 PM

@Soul Power

if it's Mitch, i guess, the threads title is a lie!! loool

 

i agree, everyone has ist own mind and feels different about a film. in this case, i guess, orangevanilla was a lil disappointed, cause he/she set wrong expectations about it and hoped, that whole performances and whole interviews would have been shown. maybe, it was too 'patchworky' for her taste. that's ok, eveeryone got their own tastes and their own pint of view, this part of her critique is quite okaay, i guess. But to say, the whole film is wrong and disgraceful and what not is completely wrong in my opinion, you can't mock the film, just because you expected it, to be differently. your critique isn't accurate and costructive enough, i guess.

 

@deep regret

i was thinking exactly the same.


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#9 pearljo

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 05:15 PM

"I saw it tonight...I'm not a professional reviewer of the film. but you could call me a professional lover of Amy. I am not blake, mitch, or jannette (or whatever her "bestfriend"'s name was".)"

 

You know, it's so nice to have an Amy expert here, whatever your name is.  People have been on this forum since you were ten years old.  Did I get that right? 

We saw it real time 24/7. 

 

"but you could call me a professional lover of Amy"

 

That's a good thing.  Why do you think the rest of us are here?


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#10 orangevanilla

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 05:50 PM

With the greatest respect, you're entitled to your opinion but I don't feel the film did her any real injustice. I've been following her since 2004 and know her backstory pretty intimately; of course a two hour film is never going to capture the full spectrum of influences and circumstances regarding Amy. The film never set out to state why things turned out how they did. No one person is ever going to be able to accurately state as fact why Amy was how she was, or why she ultimately died. A lifetime of choices, conversations, outside influences, thought processes etc are never going to be able to be captured or summarised.

 

But the film is a beautiful and jarring overview of her life. Her brother wasn't included because he didn't want to participate and has always been notably private regarding his sister. Dionne was pretty inconsequential in the scheme of things, and that combined with her school days were never going to be vital enough to be included in a two hour cut. The whole point of the film is that she was more than a "promiscuous drug addict". It humanises her in a way no real media source has in a very long time, if ever. At the same time, however, it's not going to gloss over things we've always known to be true of Amy (the drugs, the affairs et al).

 

We can all try and speak of what we think we know of Amy but let's be honest, we didn't know her. We only ever saw a public perception of Amy, one which she often fronted out. Who really knows if she felt "helpless or abandoned"? The people around her have been saying for years how lonely she was towards the end, and that she'd Skype people often in a drunk, dishevelled state just wanting to talk. Janis made it clear in her book that Amy wasn't really functioning as a normal human being towards the end and that she was a bit of a drunk mess so I had no real issues with implications made that she wasn't doing too well in her last year.

i have no doubt she was lonely and vulnerable. I hope my post didn't come off that way. Like I said, I'm not much of a writer so it was difficult for me to even fully cover my disapointement for the film...I admire your perspective because you seem like a true fan. Yet the director was not one. I had no concern about this until I saw the actual film. I loved seeing the rare footage of Amy. What's not to love? She's in it. But like you said, there's only so many outside resources you can get, so why not get a fuller perspective? It seemed like the film's voice was heavily biased towards others' agenda. Who takes Blake Fielder-Civil as a reliable source?? cmon. And I think every human being is at once lonely and lost. There was more to Amy though then bulimia and alcohol. She was a very humble and kind lady. The film could have shown more of this. While it didn't portray her in a mean light, i just think it pitied her too much.

 

Amy would have rolled her eyes at the idea of cameras "Destroying" her. This is sensationalized garbage. Even if it was a facade, the director could have at least included clips of how strong amy winehouse was. she did what she wanted and NEVER apologized for it. Do you see what im saying? she also loved her dad and would not have approved of the film's skew. She loved dionne too . She was maternal, witty, a bit of an alcoholic which did cause her death, but this film is 1-sided. Amy would have preferred to show the other side.

 

I'm not saying this film should be left unseen- but I am saying we shouldn't consider this the holy grail.

 

Note...I am not here to argue but to share my opinion.

I am not mitch winehouse tho, I was very surprised to get an RT from him lol. ]

Also by professional lover of amy, there's no timestamp on any of this. I could have joined yesterday and if dedicated, gone through everything posted here. I appreciate your perspectives more than the director. But if you question my credentials, why do you have no doubt about the director's?

 

Check my previous posts, there's no denying I was in love with her.

And I lurked this forum far longer than my registration date indicates ;)

i would even argue she's had a great impact on me because im  young haha


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#11 Soul Power

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 07:14 PM

@orangevanilla welcome to the forum. We're open to a little polite debate, I think so no real harm. Sorry you didn't like the film...it opens here tonight so I can't say whether I agree with you or not until tonight. 

 

Some friendly advice to take or leave: starting a thread with a phrase like "I knew her more than anyone" is pretty much asking for trouble, whether you meant to or not.  We all love or strongly like or are obsessed (that's me) with Amy to some degree, but it's not a competition, and you don't have to prove to us how much you love her.

 

...and I was joking about the Mitch thing, but I couldn't resist... :amy_evil:


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#12 Guest_Chris_*

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 07:23 PM

Who takes Blake Fielder-Civil as a reliable source??

 

What makes Blake an unreliable source?


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#13 orangevanilla

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 07:35 PM

@orangevanilla welcome to the forum. We're open to a little polite debate, I think so no real harm. Sorry you didn't like the film...it opens here tonight so I can't say whether I agree with you or not until tonight. 

 

Some friendly advice to take or leave: starting a thread with a phrase like "I knew her more than anyone" is pretty much asking for trouble, whether you meant to or not.  We all love or strongly like or are obsessed (that's me) with Amy to some degree, but it's not a competition, and you don't have to prove to us how much you love her.

 

...and I was joking about the Mitch thing, but I couldn't resist... :amy_evil:

yea im sure there are more obsessed people no doubt. my thread title wasnt meant to be taken literally at all

i didn't know her, just wanted my thoughts on the film read. i think i had some valid points as do all of you :) 

i realize now my opinion and frustrations aren't universal..

i guess i just felt like amy after that film, as she was in the interview that mentioned dildo. 

i couldn't help but roll my eyes whenever the clips were shown of scenery ... i feel like the friends chosen weren't the full representation. get some diversity in there. get some people in there who could talk more about how live amy was rather than how dead, alone, and vacant they felt she was. most of the people that talked had stopped talking to her...what about the people that were there?


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#14 DARE TO BE D

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 08:04 PM

Opinions are like ass holes everyone has one.... you can feel what  you like about this movie But I am glad I saw it. It was worth every penny to see to Amy happy with that sparkle in her eye that she had before the fame...  


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#15 orangevanilla

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Posted 10 July 2015 - 08:08 PM

someone wrote "I saw the film a couple of weeks ago at a special showing it's only just been released here on the 3rd.It's well worth a view especially the first half. Two annoying things 1 Words kept flashing on the screen when Amy was singing and 2 they didn't show all of What is it about men from the North sea jazz festival and again that had the words popping up,the second half was a lot of the usual drink/drugs Blake zzzzz and some of the bits in the trailers we in the end credits but really nice to see candid Amy.One really good part was when she was showing someone around a villa that was funny. I hope it comes out on DVD at some stage.Almost 4yrs it seems to have gone very quickly."

 

this is exactly how i feel.


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