Amy Winehouse film: Mark Ronson praises 'respectful' movie as it scores highest ever UK opening for British documentary

Ronson produced many of the jazz singer-songwriter's biggest hits

Amy Winehouse, seen here performing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2008 (Getty Images)

Mark Ronson has cast a favourable verdict on the new Amy Winehouse documentary, finding it "respectful" to the late singer-songwriter despite being a "tough" watch.

The producer, who worked with Winehouse on many of her biggest hits including "Valerie" and "Rehab", took his wife Josephine de La Baume to see Asif Kapadia's acclaimed film Amy and learn more about the talented woman she never met.

"What I love about it is that my wife never got to meet Amy and I am always telling her stories about us in the studio and the clever, witty things Amy would say," Ronson told The Mirror.

"We watched it and my wife said, 'Now I get it, now I see the Amy you talked about'. I forget that not everyone got to see that side of her."

Amy Winehouse performing with Mark Ronson at the 2008 Brit Awards (Reuters)

Ronson praised the movie for reminding viewers why Winehouse became famous in the first place. "She was a genius. I forget that when I played her the piano chords to 'Back to Black', she wrote the lyrics in an hour," he said. "I was blown away, people just don't write lyrics like that anymore.

"The thing that's really good about the film is the way they show the lyrics to make sure you read every word and understand them, the genius of them.

"You also see she was a real jazz performer with the attitude that , 'I write these songs, I go out and sing them and that's what I'm all about'.

"There was nothing pretentious about her, she had a gift and a talent and then she ended up becoming a runaway success that led to some unfortunate things happening."

Ronson's reaction to Amy differs considerably to that of her father Mitch, who threatened to sue filmmakers for "painting him as absent during her last years" and "giving the impression the family weren't there".

He dropped his plans to file for defamation after the documentary was re-edited but claims it is still misleading. Kapadia remains unfazed by his comments.

Amy has broken the UK box office record for the highest opening weekend of a British documentary film, grossing £519,000 from 133 cinemas since its release on Friday 3 July. It also enjoyed success in the US, earning £142,000 from just six cinemas before it expands in the coming weeks.

Winehouse died aged 27 on 23 July 2011 from alcohol poisoning, sparking an outpouring of tributes from the music world.