SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND & ME: An Intimate Documentary About Stardom

Review by Camden Ferrell

From a young age, Selena Gomez has been one of the biggest stars in the world. She was introduced to many through her acting as well as her widely successful music career. Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is a new documentary from director Alek Keshishian who is no stranger to the music industry or to famous pop stars. This documentary takes the audience on an emotional journey that will please die-hard fans and casual fans alike even if it could have been longer to dive deeper into this less than glamorous era in the subject’s life.
 
When she seemed to be at the peak of her career, Selena Gomez decided to retreat from the limelight. This documentary highlights here six-year journey with personal trouble, mental health issues, other factors that came to play in her life, and her triumphant return to stardom.  This documentary does a great job of focusing on the person rather than the art, and Gomez is an interesting subject with a emotional story to tell the world.
 
What Keshishian aims to do from the start is strip down the celebrity of Gomez to reveal a more empathetic and relatable side of her. He is able to do this without a hitch. Gomez instantly makes herself vulnerable and transparent in her thoughts and insecurities about herself, her career, and her role in the daunting world of music. 

To nobody’s surprise, Gomez is an authentic and engaging subject who knows how to play to the camera without seeming disingenuous. She performs a great balancing act of being an authentic and empathetic subject while using her strengths as an entertainer to help tell her story. The movie also relies very little on anyone else to help propel the narrative, and Gomez is due praise for carrying this documentary as well as she did.
 
There are a few moments that feel fairly shallow or detract from the intimacy that the documentary nails so often. Certain moments feel out of place or underdeveloped, and the movie could have afforded a longer run time to give each of the issues in Gomez’s world time to be properly explored. The documentary has a lot of great moments of characterization that are connected by scenes that aren’t always as strong.
 
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is an emotional story that is still ultimately optimistic and empowering. This will give the audience significant insight into the Gomez’s recent life and struggle and will show a new side to her. It’s no surprise that she is a charming and captivating subject, but viewers may be surprised with how easily she allows herself to open up about the issues in her life.
 
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me will be streaming on Apple TV+ on November 4.
 
Rating: 3.5/5