Starring Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos, Constance Marie, and Jon Seda
Directed by Gregory Nava
Music and Lyrics by various
Our next tragic singer has a lot in common with Richie Valens. Selena Quintanilla-Perez was even more popular in the early-mid 90's, especially among Spanish-speaking audiences. She too became a huge crossover star with the world at her feet, she also came from a large supportive Mexican-American family, she started her career even earlier than Valens...and her death after being murdered by her own manager was even more horrific and senseless. How much more? Let's start at one of Selena's (Lopez) last concerts in February 1995, shortly before her death, and find out...
The Story: Selena begins her career at the age of 9, when her father Abraham (Olmos) notices what a wonderful singer she is and how much she gets into the music. Abraham once had a music group in the early 60's, but they were attacked for not singing Mexican music and for not being American. He promotes Selena as the lead singer, with her brother A.B (Jacob Vargas) on bass and sister Suzette (Jackie Guerra) on drums. The kids would rather be out playing and protest this at first, until the discover that they actually like making music together.
At first, Abraham starts them playing Mexican restaurants and carnivals. It doesn't go over until Selena adds dancing and her own sparkling personality. They continue playing local fairs through 1989, when Selena displays her midriff during a performance, to her father's horror. He's even more upset when she falls for Chris Perez (Seda), a hard rock guitarist she and A.B talk her father into hiring. He tries to fire him after his former band mates trash a hotel room, but his children beg to keep him for the upcoming Mexican tour. Selena doesn't speak a word of Spanish, but her winning personality finally wins the Mexican people over, especially after she manages to calm a crowd that nearly causes the stage she performs on to buckle.
By 1994, Selena is riding high. She and Chris get married after Abraham refuses to accept their relationship otherwise, and EMI Latin wants her to record an English-language album. She even starts her own designer boutique and asks her fan club president Yolanda Salvidar (Lupe Ontiveros) to run it. Salvidar proves to be less-than trustworthy when paperwork and money for her fan club and boutique go missing, but Selena's attempt to confront her about it has tragic consequences.
The Song and Dance: Once again, a well-chosen cast is highlighted by a break-out performance. Jennifer Lopez, who went on to become a superstar in her own right, is a wonderful Selena. She beautifully captures her vivacity and energy onstage and her tender naivety off of it. She even makes a believable teenager. Olmos and Seda more than match her as her strong-willed father who is determined his daughter will find the spotlight that was denied him due to prejudice and the soft-spoken guitarist who is willing to change his life for this beautiful girl.
Thanks to the cooperation of the real Quintanilla-Perez family, this comes off as authentic as possible at the time. The music is mostly real recordings of Selena's concerts. The costumes Lopez wears are based after her actual designs. The concerts were filmed at venues where she performed. This time, the cast is almost entirely Mexican-American, or at least Latina. Even little Rebecca Lee Meza, who plays the young Selena, is a delight, showing us a little girl who loves singing, but also just wants to be a kid who enjoys playing and dancing to Donna Summer.
Favorite Number: We open with that early 1995 concert as Selena vivaciously performs a medley of "I Will Survive," "Last Dance," and "On the Radio." Jumping back to 1961, we learn that her father and a couple of his friends formed a singing group called the Dinos, mainly performing "We Belong Together." An American cafe rejects them out of prejudice, and Mexicans nearly cause a riot when they don't find their smooth sound right for dancing.
Years later, 9-year-old Selena joins her father playing "We Belong Together." He's so impressed, he convinces the kids to take up the drums and bass and turns them into a group, Selena and the Dinos. "Over the Rainbow" works at his wife's Mexican restaurant, but carnival attendants have no interest in "Blue Moon." After Selena's mother (Marie) encourages her to add more dancing and let her vivacious personality shine, Selena becomes a big hit, singing "No Me Quea Mas" even as her mother defends her right to wear a bustier in her act. We get a medley of her playing larger clubs in increasingly sexier costumes to the tune of "Balia Esta Cumbia."
"Como La Flor" is the song that gets so hot and has so many people crowding around the stage to catch a glimpse of her, the stage nearly buckles until Selena slows things down and encourages people to move away from the stage. We hear "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" as her performances, venues...and confidence...grow even larger. After she's drafted to make her first English-language album, we see her recording what would become one of two huge hits from that album, "I Could Fall In Love." She finishes up that show we saw her performing in the beginning with "Is It the Beat?" She starts to sing the other major hit from that English-language album, "Dreaming of You," until we see a rose thrown at her feet...and a montage of her tragic death and its aftermath.
What I Don't Like: Even more than La Bamba, this movie leans heavily on the sentimental side. It was heavily made with the approval of Selena's family, so there's not a lot that's negative about her. Keep in mind too that this was made just two years after her death, and the events were still fresh in people's minds then. There's also the fact that she was a huge superstar at the time who was worshiped by many, including her own family. The movie does get a little soap-opera-ish, especially in the second half that has more emphasis on Selena's relationship with Chris.
The Big Finale: Actually, this would make a nice double feature with La Bamba if you're a fan of Latin rock, Lopez, or Selena herself.
Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming; currently free at Tubi with commercials.
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