The Boy from Medellín

This is a great documentary showing the real life of a world class star. Being from Colombia I understand some if the nuances missed in the real life footage. For example, you must have been in Medellín and in the comunas to understand why that portion of the documentary is so relevant. I also liked the fact that José's struggles with mental health.

As he says in the documentary: J. Balvin the artist and José are two different people. Highly recommended.

TIFF 2020 03

The Boy from Medellin

This documentary had a very strong and powerful effect on me. It's about the famous Colombian singer J Balvin and his forthcoming concert in his hometown Medellin in which some of the biggest protests and strikes in the recent history of Colombia are taking place. I dont expect the critics from U.S to fully grasp the essence of this film, but in countries who deal with dictatorship and people rallying against the government, the roll of artists, entertainers and basically celebrities with a sizeable platform is controversional and disputed. I'd like to quote Fereydoun Farrokhzad, a former showman with PhD in political science in my country Iran who once said: "you can't just separate yourself from the politics. even if you try to not mess up with politics, politics will mess up with you. The two nuclear bombs that nuked Hiroshima and Nakazaki, these were potitical events. You must know politics to predict when the bomb is going to get you."

This film started as a typical singer's concert kind of documentary, but the whole protests and what Balvin had to go through with his roll about them gave this a whole new narrative and elevated it by a lot.

Wow! I noticed this was on the main page of Amazon fire stick. I watched the trailer and started watching, Jose/J Balvin, I am so proud of you! It was an incredible documentary of your life, thank you for sharing your life with depression and anxiety and also the struggles of being a star and being able to speak for the people as well as the pressure and responsibilities that are attached to being a public figure. You stayed true and humble and to say the least, people all over the world feel your amazing music. It was so good, that when my husband came home, I was so impressed and impacted by it, that I watched it twice! My husband didn't want to watch it, and and the end he also had the same reaction I did! Absolutely phenomenal!

"The Boy From Medellin: (2021 release; 96 min.) is a documentary about Colombian reggaeton superstar J Balvin. As the movie opens, we are in Mexico City, as J Balvin is arriving at a massive outdoor show. He takes a moment to impress onto his audience that depression needs attention. After the show, he flies to his hometown of Medellin, Colombia, where in a week's time he will give his biggest show yet at the local soccer stadium. The documentary follows him around for the next 7 days...

Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by Oscar nominated Matthew Heineman ("Cartel Land") whose production team was seemingly given unfettered access to J Balvin those 7 days living up to the home soccer stadium show. There are a number of interesting things about this documentary: it's not just about the music, in fact, there are very few music moments between the opening in Mexico City and the Medellin show 7 days later. Instead, we see J Baldvin, or Jose, go about his ever life in those days. And as it happened, Colombia was going through social unrest, with massive demonstrations in the streets, putting into doubt that the Medellin show could even go on. And whether J Baldvin would even offer any comments about the social unrest taking place. And oh, did I mention that he was suffering from a serious illness (laryngitis)? Very little is shown about how this guy became the superstar that he clearly is. Equally amazing: no footage of preparations or rehearsals for the Medellin show (if they ever happened). Which is all the more amazing when you see the footage in the last 15 min. Or so of the actual Medellin stadium show (spoiler: yes, it did take place). All in all, a very satisfactory documentary. I had heard of this guy, but knew next to nothing of him. This documentary does a great job in providing insights on him.

"The Boy From Medellin" just premiered on Amazon Prime (where I watched it) and is now available on Amazon Instant Video and other streaming services. Even if you have never heard of J Balvin before or at best are vaguely familiar with him (as I was), I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Now every country has their issues ... and while the music is on the forefront here, we get to dive into some of the trouble here too. Funnily enough I knew some of the songs but had no idea of who sang them. There was a time where I was up to date on those kind of things, but not anymore.

You have to like the music at least a little to be able to enjoy the documentary. Yes it looks on other things too and how our entertainer here struggles with them too ... but it mostly is about how he expresses himself through music. While his family is there too, he does not hold back on the "flirting" ... there is a sexual desire and drive behind a lot of the music and the rhythm you see? That's why it is necessary for you to able to listen to them ... maybe even let them make you dance? That's up to you, I know I felt that way for sure.