10. (Tie) Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue; Amy
These two music documentaries are about great female singers whose lives ended way too soon due to substance abuse. Amy Berg's Joplin doc hits all the right notes: Her emigration from Texas to San Francisco in the mid-'60s and immersion in the city's burgeoning psychedelic scene. But Joplin grew lonely on the road and found heroin was her only solace. Watch the trailer here.
While Amy Winehouse did her share of drugs and alcohol as well, Asif Kapadia's doc on the British warbler is the more baffling of the two films. The clips of Winehouse singing and talking would not lead you to think her life would be cut short, but it too was curtailed for unclear reasons. It appeared that Winehouse hated fame and wanted to be a simple jazz singer, not a pop star. Each film depicts a different era, but have the same sad result.
