Read the review of Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me by Pinkvilla below. Selena Gomez’s much-anticipated documentary comes out on November 4 and is about her struggles with mental health.
In Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, she shows her heart and soul.
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me
TRIGGER WARNING In Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, Selena Gomez opens up about her struggles with her mental health. She takes us on a journey through her ups and downs. In the documentary, Selena uses her diary entries to talk about her struggles with Lupus and its relapses, bipolar disorder, a psychotic break that led her to get help, her well-known relationship with her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber, and more. We get a look at the person behind Selena Gomez by starting the shoot in 2016 (during The Revival Tour, which was cancelled after 55 concerts because of Sel’s mental health battle) and then jumping to 2019 until well after the COVID-19 pandemic. Officially, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is about: “Selena Gomez becomes a huge star after being in the spotlight for years. But just as she gets to a new high point, something unexpected pulls her down into darkness. This raw and personal documentary shows a new side of her six-year journey.”
Plus points: There are a lot of documentaries about musicians, so the genre tends to get stale quickly, especially since the stories always seem to be driven by PR. Even though you can’t be completely raw, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is an ambitious attempt to show that Selena Gomez is more than just a typical American girl. Sel’s biggest asset is her “connections,” and it’s refreshing to see how Raquelle Stevens, her management team, and even Sel herself calm her nerves with empathy and even anger when necessary. The documentary is more realistic because there isn’t much concert footage and it doesn’t end with a song. This is especially true when it comes to Selena’s mental health problems, which haven’t magically gone away like in Disney movies.
With a 96-minute runtime, it’s hard to really focus on any one part of Selena Gomez’s life. As a break between scenes, the cinematic visualisation is stunning to watch, but you have to suspend your disbelief, which isn’t what the documentary is about. You don’t have much time to take a breath. Gomez said at the beginning that the book would be about her “darkest secrets” and “intimacy,” but it doesn’t look into why she breaks down. People might also wonder why Selena Gomez’s acting career, especially her huge comeback on TV with Only Murders in the Building, wasn’t highlighted. Or even her Disney days, if it weren’t for a short introduction.
Selena Gomez has always seemed different to me when it comes to being a superstar. Sel has taken a step back and been more low-key in the last few years. She was successful at a young age and her private life was talked about in public, but not because of what she said. So, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me has been interesting to a lot of people, including this reviewer, ever since it was announced. We wanted to know more about who Selena Gomez really is, whether she is herself or a version of herself. At the beginning, Selena reads a diary entry in which she says she will tell us her “deepest” secrets, especially about how she has been sick for the past few years. There are some very sad parts, like when Gomez reaches her breaking point, puts her mask back on, works through everything, and then takes it off before it starts all over again, like a hamster wheel.
You might be wondering how many times Justin Bieber comes up in Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. Other than newspaper clippings and paparazzi asking her about him, it’s a “rare” occurrence. No joke meant. Selena says that even though she’s going through the “worst heartache” of her life, it’s the “best thing” that’s happened to her. And the fact that Gomez didn’t look into it further says a lot about who he is. Sel chooses to blame herself and take responsibility for her very hard times, especially when she was diagnosed with Lupus and bipolar disorder. She doesn’t want to put the blame on her loved ones, even the ones she lost in the process. When Selena tells the truth about her psychosis episode, which caused her to lash out at her mom and step-dad, but that they understood and were there for her, it’s a touching moment. Gomez apologises to them for how badly she treated them, but when she goes to Kenya to help people, she’s also hard on herself, wondering if she’s really making a difference and saving lives or if it’s all for show. Sel’s best friend Raquelle Stevens and her whole team also play important roles in Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. They don’t take her outbursts lightly and try to keep her calm in any way they can. When we see Gomez in uncomfortable situations, like when she fights with Raquelle or when Stevens gives her a much-needed reality check in Kenya, we can see how confused her mind really is.
Alek Keshishian, who directed the critically acclaimed Madonna: Truth or Dare, has been given a lot of freedom to make Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, which is an inside look at the singer. What’s great is that he doesn’t let the camera stay too long or take advantage of the freedom he’s been given. He also doesn’t make her mental health problems seem like a big deal. The short length is a problem. The director teased a three-and-a-half-hour cut that would explain the zigzag plot in less than an hour and a half. What works is not using the typical method of putting together concert clips that most people have already seen. Selena Gomez says she felt like “Disney” again after a typical awkward interview. Alex didn’t want Selena Gomez’s documentary to be like a Disney movie. The ending is more open-ended and contradictory, just like the main character of the story. The documentary is called the same name as a surprise new song by Selena Gomez. This is a calm and effective way to end things.
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me gives Selena Gomez and the audience a way to get things off their chests. The main message is that you should be kind to not only other people but also to yourself.
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me doesn’t go into enough detail about why Selena Gomez is having mental health problems, but it also doesn’t “sugar-coat” it.
Selena Gomez’s diary entries, as well as those of her best friend Raquelle Stevens, play the role of the narrator to give an inside look at the singer-complicated actress’s mind.
The ending doesn’t have a “happy ending,” but instead leaves Selena Gomez’s journey to self-love instead of self-sabotage up in the air.
