‘SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND AND ME’ Review: A Superstar’s Struggles Come Into Focus

Courtney Howard // Film Critic

SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND AND ME

Rated R, 1 hour and 35 minutes

Directed by: Alek Keshishian

Filmmaker Alek Keshishian brought us one of the all-time great pop docs with MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE. His no-holds-barred look at the titular icon’s life during her Blonde Ambition tour not only launched a million water-cooler conversations, it also gave the world an insightful look at the invincible superstar’s vulnerabilities and insecurities. Almost 30 years later, he focuses his lens on yet another multi-hyphenate performer’s toils and troubles with SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND AND ME. Chronicling her 6 year journey coping with physical and mental illnesses, this cinematic testimony provides hope by spotlighting its heroine’s search for honesty and humanity.

Without actually spelling it out, Keshishian and Gomez make it clear from the start they aren’t interested in assembling a celebrity puff piece. It gets right to the point, showing an absolutely exhausted Gomez being comforted and consoled by her blond bestie Raquelle Stevens (who many might recognize from SELENA + CHEF) as they’re shuttled through Parisian streets. As soon heard through her narration – captioned by her penciled handwriting over distorted black and white imagery of herself – she’s interested in exposing her darkest secrets. And, for someone whose exchanges with fans, friends and family all ring genuine and tender, the film achieves this, showing the audience her journey towards self-discovery, grace and forgiveness.

During the 95 minute run time, a fascinating dichotomy arises in the edit– a dynamic hypocrisy masterfully challenged and showcased. Gomez picks her body apart during a costume fitting for her then-upcoming concert tour right before singing her empowering self-acceptance anthem, “Who Says.” It’s even better when the film seems to call out the industry at large, contrasting her philanthropic efforts – which show her sharing in profoundly moving heart-to-hearts with women in at a charity function and later in Kenya – with the dating-game-style superficiality of press junket interviews.

Keshishian favors fly-on-the-wall techniques, yet we’re always keenly aware of the camera’s presence. He peppers the picture with a sparing amount of talking head interviews and artistic, in-her-words interstitials shot in grainy black and white. Home video footage and family photographs also fill out the space. Musical sequences featuring Gomez in pop star mode on stage prove slightly frustrating, as they aren’t allowed to play all the way through. Thematically, though, they work as sleek, slow-mo montages – concerts cut to pieces as our heroine falls to pieces.

Keshishian’s background, having captured Madonna’s raw reality, explains why Gomez selected the documentarian. While Madonna craved the camera (remember when ex-beau Warren Beatty playfully confronted her on camera about it?), Gomez clearly has a more complex relationship with it. She yearns to be seen as both a driven, capable performer and an adult in creative transition, albeit one running from a pesky, burdensome Disney teen past that’s caused a ripple effect on her present anxiety. Eschewing sentimentality allows the sensational subject and director to get to the feature’s heartrending sentiments efficiently. Within their dissection of self, the superstar rebuilds and rediscovers her powerful voice.

SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND AND ME played the AFI Film Festival on November 2. It releases November 4 on AppleTV+.