Seeing Amy was a pretty good way to spend time in the lull preceding Fall Break.  Before I go any further, a general public service announcement: Cornell Cinema is awesome and more people should take advantage on it.  I typically go at least once a month and I can’t recommend it enough.  Cool theater, cheap tickets, good film selection.  Check it out. (Disclaimer: I don’t work for the Cinema.  Really.)

As for the documentary that we saw on Thursday night, Amy was a really interesting look into the life of a superstar who suffered a tragically common fate.  I thought that the documentary started out slowly at first as it laid out the exposition for Amy Winehouses’s rise to fame.  The thing that I appreciated most in this part was a greater understanding of her musical roots.  As a musician, hearing her perform jazz as a teenager really sheds light on the motifs and stylings that she would later work into her pop hits.  And of course, while it’s not the most entertaining to watch, this exposition is necessary to show how she really was just a sweet kid at heart–making her death that much more tragic.

The latter part of the documentary depicts her struggle with drugs and alcohol.  While this section moves much more forcefully, it’s much more in line with the typical story of a person who struggles with the limelight. This makes the overall focus of the film not so much about a particularly devastating period of time for one women, but rather about the innocence that was lost on the way.