Amy (2015)

Review:

A tragic tale of a talented young woman, which beautifully serves as a raw warning and a stark reminder.

Amy by Asif Kapadia was always going to be a difficult watch for me. This is not necessarily because I am the world’s biggest Amy Winehouse superfan, but due to experiences within my own family. A week after Amy Winehouse passed away, I also lost my aunt to alcoholism and my partner is a fellow musician who is a recovering alcoholic. This instilled in me a sense of dread about how the singer and her addictions would be depicted, but I need not have worried, as I was presented with an utterly honest and heartfelt portrayal.

Amy tells the desperately sad story of Amy Winehouse’s rise, fall and eventual final push on the self-destruct button; helped by millions of other fingers and even some of those who were closest to her. It’s not surprising that Amy’s father, Mitch Winehouse, has been so angered by the film when it illustrates not particularly flattering evidence of him putting her fame and fortune before her wellbeing. Suddenly the lyrics to her hit song ‘Rehab’ become extremely poignant - especially when we see them scrawled on the screen in her handwriting over images of a girl clearly crying out for help. Some of you, like myself, may simply know of her hit songs, yet undoubtedly feel you know every intimate detail of her downfall thanks to how it was laid out with such ferocity by the media. The fact that Amy has broken box office records for a non-fiction film is probably indicative of the obsession and fascination that grew to shroud her in life. However, whilst she continues to draw in the crowd through this film, hopefully it is forcing audiences to re-evaluate previous notions of her and others who are currently still battling addiction in the media circus we are constantly spectators of.

Kapadia has cleverly used that tactic of purely using real-life images and footage of Amy Winehouse, without any talking head interview shots. By doing this, he is turning what used to saturate our screens, magazines and newspapers on themselves for a refreshingly different purpose – for education, not destruction. At times, we are forced to sit through long shots of her battling her way through what feels like thousands upon thousands of paparazzi flashbulbs in our faces, which, in a small screen, began to feel extremely suffocating. At this point you begin to understand what Kapadia is attempting to show us about how times like these may have possibly made Amy Winehouse, a clear hater of the limelight, feel at the height of her fame. On top of this, we are taken on a journey through her life told by her nearest and dearest, brilliantly narrating her story over home videos (sometimes shot by her) because she is no longer here to do so. [This is where we start seeing some benefit to film technology being accessible to pretty much everyone.] This personal touch is once again Kapadia reminding us of how easy it is to lose touch with our valuable sense of reality and humanity; with celebrity culture continuing to gain more and more momentum in our society, we are constantly prodded and reminded to remember the dark consequences of such a life… it’s most definitely not all it’s cracked up to be.

Whilst there are tears aplenty (even though, according to my mum, I hid them quite well… the bonus of wearing glasses, eh?!), do expect some comic elements to shine through. Amy Winehouse’s sharp wit and cutting comments throughout certain archive interview footage provide some laugh out loud moments for the audience. You may even, at times, feel like you’re squirming in your seat during particularly painful images of a woman patently in trouble and remembering the copious amounts of jokes tossed around about her, but you will be guaranteed an immersive experience into a film that isn’t afraid to dive into the deep end of this tragedy; a reminder that we are all human and no-one should ever become simply a commodity. As the film ended, the cinema was left silent, and I was once again reminded of the sheer storytelling powers that documentaries can possess… when done right.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)

Review:

Giggling, grimacing and gaining clarity – Going Clear brilliantly provides insight into the evils of the religion of Scientology.

I’m a little behind on getting this review out into the blogosphere because finding showings of this film was a toughie. Those at the top of the Church of Scientology have been bringing out the big guns (their lawyers) to attempt to quash this film gaining any voice. As I found in this film, this type of practice from them is more commonplace than Scientologists sycophantically applauding life size portraits of the late creepy creator of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. Quickly pop over to Google and search the name of the film and the first site you will come across is alexgibneypropaganda.com, set up, paid for and run by Scientologists to try and tarnish any damning evidence Alex Gibney has thrown at them. Even when I was chatting to my fellow film geek friend, she was under the assumption that Going Clear is a ‘mockumentary’! After finally getting to watch this film in a dinky screen of an Arts Picturehouse, I can assuredly say that it is far from that and you start to understand why Scientologists are panicking. Going Clear is likely to be the most important film this year that you probably won’t get to see.

As someone who already finds blind faith and organised religion rather baffling and uncomfortable notions, what unfolded on the screen began to feel more of a horror movie than a documentary. Going Clear tells a tale that seems oh so familiar to the stories of Jim Jones and Jonestown, just with less of the Kool Aid, more of the money and lots of Tom Cruise. Based on Lawrence Wright’s book, Going Clear delivers to the audience an in-depth look into the bizarre history and world of Scientology. Gibney expertly examines all aspects of the religion and its often invasive and disturbing practices. I frequently found myself mesmerised by the use of poignant archive footage when accompanied by the haunting soundtrack, whilst being drawn into the main narrative told by the exceptionally well-executed interviews with those who have lived as Scientologists before escaping its grasp…well…as much as they possibly can.

The film is not without its humour though. Whether it’s our peek at the downright weird corporate-style promotional videos (the Pope may want to take note of how not to do it if he ever decides to take a similar route for distracting people from Catholicism’s sometimes dodgy activities in the future), the happy clappy sing-a-long “We Stand Tall” video of David Miscavige and other top Scientologist executives, or interview footage of Tom Cruise jabbering on in the rather crazy manner he has become known for, all led to chuckles from myself and the few other cinemagoers around me. However, as I’m sure was Gibney’s intention, these giggle moments just made what is really going on behind those seemingly impenetrable gates of Scientology even more horrific. The clear and apparent embarrassment and shame felt by the interviewees when they try to understand their naivety for sticking through all the craziness for so long (some around 30 years) became even more heartbreaking. You could be forgiven for going into this film assuming that these people were foolish and brought it all upon themselves, but you leave feeling a sense of pity and fear for all the other men, women and children who are still so deeply trapped within the organisation that they are willing to cast out or “disconnect” with their own family members forever, simply because they are told their loved ones are SP - “suppressive persons”. 

Going Clear is further evidence of Alex Gibney’s skill at being able to tell intriguing stories about the disturbing activities of certain echelons within our society that often happen, and are allowed to happen, right under our noses; the seemingly mundane skilfully crafted into chilling exposés. When I left the cinema, I was unsure whether to laugh or cry and started to hope that what I had witnessed was indeed a ‘mockumentary’, as my friend had first thought. That soon grew into a strong sense of anger, a determination to get others to see the film, and the feeling of needing a shower to wash off the years of seeing any films starring Tom Cruise.