'Selena Gomez: My Mind And Me' A Review

Selena Gomez: My Mind And Me is a documentary about the performer taking place over the past six years(or so). The movie is a glimpse into her life during that time showing her preparing for tours, doing press, meeting with her management, struggling with her health and mental health, returning to her home town, and going to Kenya on a philanthropic mission, this cut with occasional segments of narration from Gomez's diary.

It's seems to be a trend of celebrity docs to be made prematurely(Val, Sheryl, David Crosby), the artist in question needs to grapple with some issue or discovery and part of them working through that process is making a movie about it. All good. But the issue is that at that point the artist themselves has little to no perspective. Gomez is in the throughs of her adulthood, her Lupus, her new bipolar diagnosis. She is still grappling with it all, coming to terms with it, attempting to process it, figuring out a new way of living to manage and pursue her passions and what she thinks is important. That's great. But its not particularly interesting to watch nor is there much, if any, insight to be gained. Her simply putting her health and mental health struggles out there raises exposure and puts that stuff more firmly in the cultural discussion. That's great. But beyond that the movie seems to have very little to say because Gomez simply hasn't had time to gain much wisdom about any of these issues and as a result cannot impart wisdom she has yet to gain.

There are two other issues with the movie. One, even though Gomez is compelling(as a person and performer, check out Only Murders In The Building btw she's amazing) there is an air of entitlement, privilege, and the kind of repugnant naivete of the rich that permeants a lot of it. Not to diminish her struggles or her back ground or what she's gone through or the artistic/chartable work she does but what we see in the movie conveys an out-of-touchness that makes it difficult to connect. It's not a deal breaker its just clearly there and not really addressed in any way so it sticks out. Kind of like when Michael Phelps came out about his depression, commendable and impactful no question, but he framed it in a way as if it was new, as if it was unique and for the working and shrinking middle class the struggle has been real for a long fucking time. It's complicated not cut and dry and ultimately there's just not a lot of nuance in the movie and it feels like that's because the subject and the filmmaker are unaware not because of deliberate choice.

Two, the industry is really messed up. Gomez, especially in the early scenes(2016-2017) talks about her body, as do those around her, in an incredibly dissociative way. She says explicitly at one point that she doesn't want to be a "product" while we see her(and her team) continually, vigorously commodifying her. She attempts to work while getting her Lupus and bipolar in check and she is very clearly in pain and miserable. Her team, some of which may be friends its unclear who's on the payroll and what their positions are, almost unilaterally diminish any and all complaints and problems she has, placating her, clearly in an effort to simply keep her working, keep the gravy train rolling. It's incredibly disturbing. But what's more disturbing is its unclear if Gomez or the filmmakers even recognize this. In the context of the movie it feels like this is normal, this is SOP.

I have a lot of respect for Gomez and I'd love to see something like this from her five years from now. But as is the movie is too raw with too little understanding.

Currently streaming on Apple+.

Don't See It.