FEATURE
THE REAL THING
Scott Henderson picks five must-see documentaries displaying their wares at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
BIG GOLD DREAM: SCOTTISH POST-PUNK AND INFILTRATING THE MAINSTREAM Filmhouse, Fri 19 Jun, 8pm; Belmont, Tue 23 Jun, 8.25pm; Odeon, Sat 27 Jun, 6.10pm The late 70s / early 80s was a period of major upheaval in social, cultural and economic terms. This tackles an iconic period of the Scottish music scene. Among those offering reflections are Norman Blake, Edwyn Collins and Bobby Bluebell. Director: Grant McPhee DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL LAMPOON Cineworld, Sat 20 Jun, 8.40pm; Sun 21 Jun, 1.15pm National Lampoon fans will need no convincing, while anyone familiar with the 80s comedic work of John Belushi, Bill Murray, John Landis, Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner will be fascinated by this film charting its rise from satirical magazine to comedy institution. Director: Douglas Tirola
MISERY LOVES COMEDY Cineworld, Thu 25 Jun, 8.40pm; Sat 27 Jun, 3.50pm Do you really need to be unhappy to be excellent at comedy? Actor and comic Kevin Pollak steps behind the camera to interview some of the biggest names in the business (Larry David, Lisa Kudrow and Steve Coogan for three), investigating how to make it in the laughter industry and why on earth they all do it. Director: Kevin Pollak PRECINCT SEVEN FIVE Filmhouse, Sun 21 Jun, 8.15pm; Cineworld, Mon 22 Jun, 8.35pm Corrupt NYPD cops, brutal gangs and Dominican drug barons: it might sound like a new Martin Scorsese flick, but this is the riveting real-life tale of Brooklyn’s 75th precinct in the 1980s. You may never look at a police uniform the same way again, as it follows one rookie cop who eventually became a hardened criminal. Director: Tiller Russell
THAT SUGAR FILM Cineworld, Sun 21 Jun, 6.05pm; Tue 23 Jun, 8.30pm Australian actor Damon Gameau (Balibo) launches his debut documentary which tackles sugar in much the same way Morgan Spurlock took on the might of McDonald’s in Super Size Me. Designed as an entertaining exploration of a very serious health issue, it features impressive talking heads such as Hugh Jackman and Stephen Fry. Director: Damon Gameau 4 Jun–3 Sep 2015 THE LIST 21
‘Amy was treated as something from the gutter’
footage from her two closest childhood friends, Juliette Ashby and Lauren Gilbert, and also her i rst-ever manager, Nick Shymansky. Acquiring this footage was far from easy and it took Kapadia many months to win these people’s trust. ‘It all became a journey that was different from Senna because I had to get people to trust me,’ he says. ‘It was all quite recent and painful for a lot of people, and there was a lot of guilt and mistrust. There was a lot of baggage.’ It was clearly a journey worth pursuing as the early footage is revelatory. Here we see Winehouse before fame, alcohol, drugs and an eating disorder took their toll. ‘There’s laughter at the start where Amy is funny and she’s witty,’ the director says. ‘Then it gets heavier as it goes along.’
The i lmmakers, while never judging Winehouse or those around her, suggest that the problems which afl icted her later life were perhaps born during childhood. ‘She was funny and talented, and what happens later on is because of something earlier in her life,’ adds Kapadia. ‘It all goes back to youth and childhood and growing up. She was a product of her experiences. The art came out of that, but so did the darkness and the loneliness. I think it is a i lm about a person who wants to be loved, someone who needs that and doesn’t always get it. For me, Amy is a very dark i lm about love.’
Amy, Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Thu 18, Sat 20 Jun. Selected release from Fri 3 Jul. See review, page 69.