Amy Winehouse Documentary Anger Some Of Her Relatives

A harrowing new documentary on Amy Winehouse won’t be released until July 3. But the singer’s father has already condemned it as “unbalanced” and “misleading.”

Now we know why he feels that way.

“Amy,” which was screened in New York Wednesday after a debut at Cannes, repeatedly portrays Mitch Winehouse, now 64, as an absent father and, later, an enabler in his daughter’s self-destruction.

“My dad was never there growing up,” the singer says early in the two-hour movie. “He was all we needed.”

Friends tell director Asif Kapadia that Winehouse’s father ignored clear evidence that his daughter was bulimic. Later, the film quotes doctors who say the malady contributed significantly to her death, by alcohol poisoning, in July 2011.

Amy’s mother reacted to her daughter’s teenage bulimia much like her dad. “I figured it was just a phase,” she says. “She’d get over it.”

Years later, Amy overdosed on crack and heroin, and was hospitalized. Shortly after, her father insisted the singer still “has some commitments to honor” for live dates.

His comment appears to justify the opinion of Amy’s producer and co-writer, Salaam Remi, who accuses the dad of being more interested in his daughter’s earning power than in her health.

At that time, Winehouse’s earning power was huge, boosted by her multiplatinum smash album, “Back to Black,” in 2006. That groundbreaking work, her second overall, established Winehouse as one of the most talented singers of her generation, blessed with both agile jazz chops and soul power.

In 2011, when a troubled Amy was trying to hide in St. Lucia from the glare of attention, her father invited a film crew on the trip. In one scene, a clearly uncomfortable Amy points at the camera, then looks at her dad as if to say, “Really?”

Mitch Winehouse isn’t the only figure who comes off poorly in the film. After the star fires her first manager, she hires a man who also serves as her concert promoter. Friends view this as a terrible mistake, since a promoter is inclined to keep her on the road, a place where Winehouse had already displayed self-destructive tendencies.

Deep into her obvious decline, the manager books her into a disastrous date in Belgrade, where she’s too wasted to even perform. Footage of her meltdown in front of a booing audience of thousands is brutal.

There’s also no shortage of negative stuff about her relationship with boyfriend, and later husband, Blake Fielder-Civil.

Her obsession with him leads her to even deeper depths, as she says on tape that she started using crack and heroin because “I want to be where he is.”

Fielder-Civil confirms his wife’s mental instability, recounting a time that he accidently cut himself when he was high. Winehouse then cut herself on purpose, he says, as a way to be closer to him.

There are signs of future trouble in an early TV interview, revisited here. Years before she became big, Amy says, “I don’t think I’m going to be famous — I don’t think I can handle it. I’d go mad.”

There’s an especially crushing scene after a temporarily clean Amy accepts five Grammys in 2008. When she first hears of the win, she seems as thrilled as a little girl. A friend reports that, minutes later, she revealed deeper feelings. “This is so boring without drugs,” she said.

The documentary isn’t entirely grueling. It includes many warm scenes with childhood cohorts, and with first manager Nick Shymansky, who comes off as a caring soul. There are also many thrilling performances, highlighted by a balletic live version of her song, “Love Is a Losing Game.”

There is equally amazing footage of Winehouse with her idol, Tony Bennett, as they recorded “Body and Soul” for his “Duets II” LP. It turned out to be her final recording. Winehouse keeps screwing up her takes. Throughout, Bennett shows incredible sensitivity, repeatedly calming her down, encouraging her to “take your time.”

Like much of this remarkable film, it’s at once touching and crushing.

SOURCE