Winehouse doc breaks UK box office record

Amy Winehouse film gets the biggest opening for a homegrown documentary and the second-biggest documentary opening ever in the UK British director Asif Kapadia's acclaimed and divisive film on Amy Winehouse has had the most successful debut of any UK documentary.

According to the music news website factmag, the film, "Amy," nabbed just over $800,000 in the U.K. on its opening weekend, the biggest opening for a homegrown documentary and the second-biggest documentary opening ever in the UK, behind Michael Moore's 2004 film "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Performers as diverse as Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) and Tony Bennett sing praises of the late Winehouse  in the documentary that strives to reclaim the talented, troubled singer as a musician, rather than a mess.

However, the singer's father, Mitch Winehouse, has branded the film as inaccurate and misleading. He claims Kapadia depicts the family as doing too little to help the singer overcome addiction.

"They have selectively edited what I said to suggest that me and my family were against her getting any kind of treatment," Mitch Winehouse told the Associated Press. "We took her dozens of times to detox and rehab over the years."

A well-rounded portrait 

Winehouse died at 27 of accidental alcohol poisoning in July 2011, after a battle with drink and drugs that played out in front of the cameras and on tabloid front pages.

AFP Photo

Kapadia defends his film as a well-rounded portrait of the artist, built from more than 100 interviews with people who knew Winehouse such as childhood friends of Winehouse and her first manager, Nick Shymansky. Even the singer's drug-troubled ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, makes a debut, along with...