Amy is documentary by Asif Kapadia that avoids talking heads and employs more personal methods to paint a portrait that creates a better sense of understanding and humanizing the late singer Amy Winehouse. Personally, she was just a tabloid figure to me with some good songs that met an unfortunate if kind of expected end. Asif uses archival footage, most shot with phones and camcorders and has audio interviews play over them. While difficult to watch at times, this doc creates a fuller picture of the talent and voice that was one of a kind.
The “Back to Black” phase was an effective way of showing what it’s like to take an express train to fame and notoriety. Sad how no one really wanted to step in, it seemed she was surrounded by helpless friends, selfish business partners and just as troubled love interests. Unfortunate, but sometimes you need a party pooper with a big heart. It says a lot about the modern state of celebrity and how that can so easily spiral into oblivion.
8/10
The Wolfpack
The Wolfpack is a documentary that enters into some strange territory. In an apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, there is a family of home schooled children who rarely if at all get to venture outside and socialize with the people outside their walls. They instead take solace with each other; over a half a dozen siblings who find escape in the world of cinema. They recreate their favorite scenes with what materials they have (the Batman costume above is made from cereal boxes and yoga mats). It is an interesting story to tell but felt there were larger implications at play that weren’t explored or even enforced.
A family was essentially imprisoned and it’s kinda glossed over. That sort of makes it engaging, waiting to see if there is some big revelation or change. While there are some turns to the right direction by the end, there is still a sense of it being short lived. Otherwise, it speaks to the power of movies and the escape and catalyst for imagination they can cause as this weird rock band looking group of brothers carry out their fantasies of being part of the larger world. Still an interesting watch even if uneven and afraid to explore into darker territories.
7/10
Righteous Cinema 
I saw the wolfpack the other day. A straightforward picture of what it’s like to live in a home controlled by domestic violence.
I wasn’t as interested in it as most others seem to be but it was a story worth telling for sure.