Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Redbox
If you’re a tik tok addict as yours truly is, then you’ll have noticed the more entertaining memes of adult Latina women introducing their daughters (or younger female friends or family) to “Selena.” It’s a bittersweet series of memes that inspire big laughs and big frowns all around. Like everyone in the nineties, the young women quickly fall head over heels in love with Selena Quintanilla. And like every person in the nineties, the rug is pulled right under them when shockingly she dies a pointless, tragic death. The series is interesting as it serves only to illustrate how much of a spell Selena put on people around the world.
Selena was incredibly beautiful, incredibly charming, and yes, incredibly talented. She’s almost too good to be true, which is sad when the movie reveals to newcomers that she never lived to a ripe old age. It’s a horrible tragedy that the Latin community is still grieving over. While the movie about her life felt like too much, too soon, it ends up being a pretty damn good drama about the ball of lightning we knew as Selena. It’s also probably the best performance Jennifer Lopez ever put to film. Even well in to her career (she recently gave us “The Mother”), Lopez has never quite topped her performance as Selena Quintanilla. Lopez really manages to channel the Tejano singer despite being of Puerto Rican descent.
Back in 1997 Jennifer Lopez was a virtual newcomer to Hollywood who was recognized mostly as being a fly girl for the controversial comedy show “In Living Color.” But as she rose in popularity her career was based around playing mainly small supporting performances in mid-tier movies (“Antz”) and short lived sitcoms (“South Central”). I should know because she’s easily one of the longest celebrity crushes I’ve ever had. But I digress. I usually hate music biopics and I’ve hated all the most popular ones. But I think that I love “Selena” because in spite of the horrific end of Selena Quintanilla, Gregory Nava’s look at the beginnings of Selena is beaming with positivity. Sure, it has heart ache before the tragic finale, but the movie perpetuates so many interesting ideas.
There are themes about family, and love, and pursuing of your dreams, and how embracing your culture is an advantage. Father Abraham is a man depicted as someone who never entirely embraced his culture despite his love of music. Once Selena and his children begin to sing and perform, he insists that Selena learn how to sing in Spanish and embrace her culture as much as possible. This becomes crucial to Selena’s success as it helps skyrocket her in to absolute success. Selena’s mix of pop and Tejano music allows her to become multi-faceted and broader as an icon and a hero. Not to mention Nava spotlight the inherent enjoyment that can come from success in music.
Selena even manages to become something of a force for good, as she manages to prevent a horrible disaster during a stadium concert, implementing her music (singing a soothing version of “Como La Flor”) as a means of calming the potentially violent conditions. Jennifer Lopez, who was something of a blank slate early in her career, embodies the charisma and charm of Selena, diving head first with a role that helps to shine a light on how loved Selena was. There are also wonderful turns by Constance Marie, Edward James Olmos, Jackie Guerra and Jon Seda, respectively.
Seda is especially a highlight, as he serves instrumental to show the tumultuous and somewhat idyllic romance Selena had with band mate Chris Perez. The almost fast paced affair and romance between Selena and Chris is one of the more compelling aspects of “Selena,” and it serves to explore how much influence Chris ultimately had on her, as well as how much unconditional love he held for her. “Selena” is not about scandal and darkness. It’s positive, bright, sincere, entertaining, and it leaves all of the horrible stuff until the very end; even then it doesn’t exploit it or shove it in our faces.
It’s an unfair ending to a light that was snuffed out too soon. But, hey, at least the movie allows us to celebrate Selena for a little while. Hers is a loss that her fans have yet to truly move past for almost thirty years, but she left behind just a large legacy of joy, love, and just excellent music.
“Fotos Y Recuerdos” is my personal favorite.