by Miguel Mike Medina
Year 29! Today marks the 29th anniversary of the horrible and devastating murder of Selena Quintanilla. Selena was only 23 years old when she made her journey to heaven. After having early success, she was just getting started. She made a big impact on the world and left a huge legacy. This led me to make a movie review of her 1997 biopic, Selena.
Jennifer Lopez starred as Selena in this film. There was some criticism because J. Lo is Puerto Rican and Selena is Mexican. Many people wanted someone Mexican to play the role of Selena. Jennifer played the role so beautifully. She’s not a great actress in my opinion, but she does an incredible job bringing Selena’s character to life. This role changed Lopez’s career forever. The Jennifer Lopez that we know today, all blew up and started with the massive praise and attention from her performance in Selena. You can tell she studied Selena. Everyone who was part of that picture had nothing but high praise when discussing Jennifer’s preparation and work ethic for this role.
I also found the chemistry between Jennifer and Jon Seda very believable. Jon Seda played the character of Chris Lopez, Selena’s fiancée and the band’s guitarist. Edward James Olmos, whom I like as an actor, did a great job playing A.B. Quintanilla (Selena’s father). The scenes with the father and daughter are essential, especially the pizza scene and the scene where Selena tells her father that she got married to Chris. As we all know, Abraham didn’t approve of their relationship at first, but then he accepted him back into the group and their marriage. Abraham was afraid of her daughter getting married so young and having her career in the palm of her hand, but Selena had a way to melt her father’s heart and change his mind.
Selena and her mother had a great relationship. You saw it in the movie and I believe it was like this in real life it was the same way. Based on interviews I’ve seen, you can tell that out of all Abraham and Marcella’s kids, Selena was something special. I’m not making this as preferential treatment or favoritism. The parents loved all of their kids equally, but there was something about Selena that made their relationship really tight.
My review for this movie is 3.8 out of 5 stars. The movie has some flaws from a directing and writing standpoint, but it’s a heartfelt and inspiring story. A tragic end but it’s her impact that makes this story unforgettable.
