Amy Wise’s life seems to follow in the footsteps of other talented musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix, Kurdt Kobain, Jim Morrison...and countless others All musicians showed their talents when they were young, and died early until the age of 27. In terms of the results, the mysterious premature death is almost the destined ending of the legend. It seems that this is the only way to be worthy of repeated scrutiny, filling the gaps in the mystery, and reciting it. In a sense, the documentary "Amy Wise" directed by Asif Kapadia is the case, but he has no intention of adding to the legend, but trying to piece together the "star "Below, it's like you and me, just like Amy White for ordinary people.
The entire film is built on the private images of Amy Wise's past and a few public performances, so most of what the audience sees is Amy Wise under the stage. At the beginning of the film, it was Amy Waiss in her teenage years. Her cheeks without powdered powder had baby fat on her cheeks. She looked innocent and a bit silly, but she had revealed her confidence in singing. She sang a happy birthday song for her friends with her unique voice. In this way, it is really difficult for her to connect with the later Amy White with a honeycomb hairstyle and exaggerated cat-eye makeup. The only thing that can be distinguished is her natural husky voice. The vicissitudes of Amy Wyth's voice is really charming, combined with her casual but emotional attitude when interpreting songs, it always makes people think that she has seen everything in the world, but the real she is just the opposite. She in the film is just a frank child. She makes no secret of her emotions and thoughts. Even if she has become a singer or even a star, she still cannot learn the sophistication and hypocrisy. Only in this way can she openly express her dissatisfaction with the arrangement on the radio, and she does not conceal her need for drugs. ; Even if the camera is right in front of you.
It is this frankness that makes Amy Wise can only put herself in front of the world. A closer look at the lyrics she created, it is not difficult to find that the most private thoughts are recorded, especially the love life, which is an extremely important source of inspiration for her. The debut single "Stronger Than Me" was written to the first boyfriend: "You should be stronger than me／You've been here 7 years longer than me／Don't you know you supposed to be the man／ Not pale in comparison to who you think I am", it is obvious that Amy Wise is very hungry for love and needs to rely on men in exchange for a sense of security. Some commentators pointed out that Asif Kapadia’s narrative point of view is based on stereotyped gender impressions, but I think that Emily Wise is not so much a "woman who relies on love," it is better to say that she is looking for a solid foundation. Child. Amy Wise’s parents separated when she was 9 years old, and her father was almost absent from her growing up thereafter. Perhaps because of this, she always looked for the image of "father/man" consciously or unconsciously; but, The man beside her always pushes her into the dark abyss.
From the perspective of the film, Blake Fielder-Civil is undoubtedly one of the most important men in Amy Wise’s life. Her second album "Back To Black" (Back To Black) shows the relationship with him. Divided and combined love entanglement. General public opinion believes that Blake is the one who induced Amy Wise to come into contact with first-class drugs such as cocaine and heroin, and then sink into the sea of poison. From the standpoint of a bystander, Blake is definitely not a good lover, but Amy Wise is still deeply fascinated by him, and even loves it hard to separate and worry about gains and losses. It turns out that what Amy White can't get rid of is not drugs, but love. "Love is a losing game," she sang. Like Faye Wong and Yi Nengjing, Amy Wise can lay down her career for love, but also because of love, she brews enough energy to create the pinnacle of her career. The "Black Club" album brought her international success, including artists such as Elton John, Jay-Z, Bon Jovi and Justin Timberlake. , Global sales exceeded 6 million copies, and won five Grammy awards. Although the U.S. refused to issue a visa because of her drug abuse history and was unable to come to receive the award in person, she still could not conceal the brilliance of her that night.
Bright achievements are bound to bring intense media attention. Undoubtedly, Amy Wise is a talented jazz singer. Tony Bennett admires her, but she is not a "star" and she has never regarded herself as a "star". If the media is a double-edged blade, then the paparazzi culture transformed into it is even more so, so anyone can be famous for 15 minutes, but not everyone can bear the price of 15 minutes. After being extremely popular, Amy Wise began to become the focus of the lens, and the spotlights kept flashing, seeming to illuminate her future life path, but this scene is truly thrilling. Unlike Lady Gaga, who sprang up a few years later, Amy Wise obviously does not know how to override the media, or even manipulate the media, so she can only be like a lamb slaughtered on her behalf, fragile and helpless. Curled up under the strong light of the spotlight, letting reporters slaughter him viciously, and finally fell from the most popular person to the least popular person in a blink of an eye. Ironically, at this time, Amy Wise’s father had already darkened media culture and began to forcibly invade her private life with a camera.
After the documentary was released, Amy Winehouse's father, Mitch Winehouse, was extremely dissatisfied, thinking that the film made false accusations against him, and at the same time misled the audience and ignored Amy Winehouse's musical talent. Asif Kapadia’s documentary focuses on negative characterization, but I think he only intends to analyze the truth behind the tragedy of Emily Wise’s life; in other words, he intends to restore the hiding in "Amy Wise" The little girl under the huge halo, the frank and sincere but fragile and helpless little girl. After all, a tragedy will not only be caused by alcohol and drugs, it will simplify a person and a life too much. Only by removing the dazzling light can you see the truest appearance; and that appearance is most likely to be ugly.
For the fans who love Emily Wise, the images presented in this documentary are really cruel, especially after watching her get drunk, being taken on the plane by her agent and sent to the performance venue; or seeing her She was seriously dazed and unable to sing on the stage, and was applauded by the audience. When these images appeared on the big screen, we seemed to be the media who watched jokes, watching her embarrassment coldly, even falling into trouble, but no one wanted to reach out to help her. Back to the central question of the documentary: What caused the tragedy of Emily Wise's life? Was it Blake, Mitch Wise, or Amy Wise that made her own? The director didn't make any judgments, but it made us feel that we are to blame.
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