Amy

And this week's Friday night movie has been....Amy!

Original image located here. Accessed 27th September 2019

Yep, it's the documentary based on the life of one Amy Winehouse.
At the time, when her career was in full flight, I didn't pay a lot of attention to Amy. I heard little of her music but I DID hear a lot about her daily escapades with drug & alcohol abuse and constantly making a fool of herself in public. Indeed, it's not a good sign when you find yourself asking 'Wait, she's a singer?'.
However, most of my knowledge about Amy Winehouse has been informed through reading the book Cradle to the Stage (by Virginia Hanson-Grohl). And the section dedicated to Amy, as recounted by her mother Janis, paints a picture of the eternal rebel, fiercely resisting advice, warnings, common-sense and any form of order and structure. And suddenly Amy's famous declaration of "They tried to make me to go rehab / I said: No No No" seems less defiant and more petulant.
So can this documentary present some new information?

Much like Mystify: Michael Hutchence, this is a documentary built out of (mostly) home video footage and the accounts of the people who knew the subject. It does indeed show Amy at her best, a singer and a writer, and at her worst. It doesn't shy away from the rebel image (as described above) and it is saddening to hear the attempts from various people trying to stop Amy from her self-destructive tendencies only to fail.
Indeed, it is depressing see Amy go from a young, pretty and charismatic performer into a mess. Going into the documentary, we all know how the story ends but that doesn't make the journey any less harrowing.
Still it is impressive to see the amount of material the makers of this documentary had to work with. A stand out for me was the footage of her in a studio working alongside her hero Tony Bennett. And a story from a friend who bursts into tears as she tells it.
So in the end, like any good documentary, this is raw, honest and leaves a sizable impression

Mystify: Michael Hutchence

And last week's Friday night movie has been....Mystify: Michael Hutchence!

Original image located here. Accessed 26th July 2019

So this has been doing the rounds lately: a biographical documentary on former INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, made up of (mostly) home video footage and spoken accounts from the people how knew him.

Being a child of the eighties and an Australian, I was in the right place and the right time to bear witness to INXS achieving their superstardom. Thing is, I never got into INXS. Sure their songs were a constant presence on the radio, sure Hutchence's face was everywhere but I however, was more into the likes of Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil and Icehouse. I had no idea of the headway INXS were making overseas and, as far as I was concerned, their music wasn't for me - but I will admit to a fondness for Beautiful Girl which, as bizarre as it may sound, I will forever associate with my Primary School leavers dinner XD
In recent years though, my indifference has been challenged and I'm finding something to like in INXS' music. So maybe there is something to be gleamed from this documentary?

Apparently so: Clearly this documentary is going out of it's way to humanise Michael and show him as he really was. I was interested to see how Michael was described as someone who functioned best when he was within a familial unit. I was intrigued to hear about his relationship with Kylie Minogue - particularly when Kylie's accounts are delivered with boundless enthusiasm. And even when we all know how the story ends, the tragic of it is still a kick to the teeth.
So in the end, if this documentary was aimed at humanising Michael and show him who he really was, this succeeded with flying colours.