When it comes to Amy Winehouse, it’s easy for documentary reviews to focus more on the garish aspects of her career and leave the music behind in the dust as a postscript. It’s even easier for this to occur when the documentary review is unauthorized. When it came to Nick Johnstone’s unauthorized biography, the sources and content were less than becoming and the final product was trashy and repetitive.

And so it was with great apprehension that I went into The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review. Put together by UK company Chrome Dreams as a part of their “Under Review” series, this piece collects a gaggle of journalists and experts who have had narrow (at best) experience with Winehouse. As with the book, the lack of Winehouse sanction hurts the product and doesn’t afford as gripping a plot as desired.

On the plus side, however, The Girl Done Good keeps the focus chiefly on the music throughout its 80 minutes. The doc runs from the release of Winehouse’s first album, Frank, through to the release of Back to Black. Little time or tolerance is given to the scandalous drivel between releases and most of the talk is about the music, what it means, and how it came together.

The DVD also uses excerpts of songs from the Amy Winehouse catalogue and often juxtaposes them with classic songs from artists like Ella Fitzgerald, The Ronettes, and a range of Motown artists to compare Winehouse’s sound with old school jazz, blues, and R&B. When Winehouse’s music is put alongside some of the old standards, the top quality of her tone and pitch becomes incredibly clear. There are also a few clips of Winehouse performing live. 

The Girl Done Good is vastly optimistic about all things Winehouse. The commentators and talking heads are really sensitive to the difficulty in her personal life, choosing to keep talk of calamity to a minimum and offer words of support and encouragement, an odd thing to see in this type of unofficial journalism.

The contributors are appealing in their own right, too. Barb Jungr is a gifted jazz singer and her observations about Amy Winehouse come weighted with her own experience as a vocalist, giving her words integrity.

Chris Ingham spends his screen time sitting at his piano plucking out notes from Winehouse songs and describing the music. Other commentators come sternly from the critical world, including rock journalist Gavin Martin and The Guardian’s Paul Lester.

Overall, The Girl Done Good is a rock-solid documentary review that keeps the focus on Winehouse’s music and strays from her private life as much as possible. There are some clips of television appearances gone wrong, such as the notorious “Beat It” duet with Charlotte Church, but this doc strays from the hullabaloo and focuses on this marvellous musical talent.

Because of this approach, The Girl Done Good makes for a solid documentary for those interested in discovering the music of Amy Winehouse for the first time or those, like me, already well into the madness.