Selena

What a lovely biopic. I had barely heard of Selena when she was killed, and I'm no fan of Tejano music. But this picture was a wonderful tribute to the young talent. The movie is a celebration of her life, rather than fixating on her death, as one would expect with her family so involved (controlling) with the film. This approach also just felt right. I'm sure that Hollywood, if it had had its way, would have sensationalized this aspect to the max. I don't know how much of the film is factual, and how much is apocryphal. A local reviewer wrote that a true biography of Selena would have to wait a few years, and be done without a Quintanilla looking over both shoulders.

All I can do is rave about Jennifer Lopez. Her beauty, her talent, her sheer magnetism flows right out of the screen. She was amazing. Since her biography subject died so young, she was able to avoid the problems, inherent in the genre, of trying to age the actress to match the aging of the subject. Constance Marie, who I'm not familiar with, was quite good as Selena's mother, although she did have to deal with the question of appearing to age 15 years. Every cast member seemed right for their part, and everyone did very well. The film seemed well-directed, in that I never thought about the director at any time during the film.

Overall, the movie was very sweet, with obvious tragic overtones. Highly recommended.