Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Selena
- Commentary: This movie is a not-quite-so-guilty pleasure for me. I have usually been able to find it playing on a streaming service without commercials once a year or so, but, I have access to only two streaming services (that's all I need, actually, considering that, despite my huge number of owned movies, I don't watch movies or programs a lot). Lately, I've been experiencing my hunger, again, for this movie, and was left with no outlets through which to assuage it, which has never before happened. Just out of curiosity I thought, you know, I wonder how much it would cost if I just owned this movie. I found an astonishingly cheap price for a new press in widescreen with subtitles and, knowing that I will watch this movie again and again, grabbed it. It just arrived. I'll be luxuriating in it shortly.
Lots of film critics lauded this movie, including Jennifer Lopez' performance in it. That's what accounts for the "not-quite-so-guilty" part of my pleasure in this movie. The part of my pleasure about which I feel guilty is that it depends upon Selena's tragic end. Without the short and shocking trajectory of her life she likely would have continued to be a huge, cross-sectional star, but I doubt there'd be a movie about her. She may have become an acting, as well as a singing, star, in her own right, and, likely, either way, her existence doing what she did so well would have produced at least as much wealth for her family as her tragedy probably has, but, well, to be blunt, untimely tragedy tends to generate at least as much attention, if not more, as success. Sad truth.
Much worthy attention was paid to the making of this movie. All the choices made, the actors, the carving of the story for maximum effect, the production, the presentation, are top notch. It is unfortunate that all this excellence had to be lavished on presenting a tragedy, rather than a long-lived phenomenon.
Update 3/23/2022: Yes, yes, yes, I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening watching my copy of this movie. May I say, it is the premier popcorn-and-soda movie of my collection. Although just a few minutes over two hours, I rewound and rewatched so many sections of it that I spent at least four hours luxuriating in it.
I plan to watch Netflix's version, Selena: The Series, for comparison. It received low to middling reviews from professional critics (with the exception of the immediately previous review, which has an interesting perspective, from Roger Ebert dot com) and was rebuked even more for "occasionally [struggling] to tell its subject's story with depth or perspective" (a quote from the Wikipedia article about the film) than the film. IMDb users, however, [(1997 movie), (2020-21 series)] ranked the two practically the same: above middling. The consensus seems to be that while professional critics are looking for something with more depth (which I'm not sure is possible without a thorough companion story about Yolanda Saldívar, Selena's side-business manager and murderer), off-the street (so to speak) critiques from watcher-plebes are, largely, satisfied and disappointed with both depictions in equal measure and for the same reasons, giving the series a slight, and, I think, insignificant, edge.
Once I finish viewing the series, if I think I have anything cogent to add, I will, but, if not, well, what you read above is what you get.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Jennifer Lopez Adult Selena Edward James Olmos Abraham Quintanilla, Jr Constance Marie Marcela Quintanilla Lupe Ontiveros Yolanda Saldívar
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1997
Directed by Gregory Nava.
Labels: biography3, coming-of-age2, dramaE, edward-james-olmos, jennifer-lopez, musical2, popcorn-and-soda7, tragedy2
