Selena (film)
Encyclopedia
Selena is a 1997 American biographical drama film
about the life and career of the late Tejano music
star Selena
, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico
before she was shot to death at the age of twenty-three.
The movie stars Jennifer Lopez
as Selena
, in her breakthrough role. Her father, Abraham Quintanilla, Jr., is played by Edward James Olmos
and Constance Marie
plays Marcella Ofelia Samora–Quintanilla.
and his band "The Dinos" are rejected by a white restaurant owner for an audition due to their "Whites Only" policy. They then perform to a Mexican audience at a nightclub called "Lerma's", but a riot ensues when they sing "We Belong Together" and the band is forced to flee.
In 1981, Abraham is married to Marcela Samora and now has three kids. When his daughter Selena (Rebecca Lee Meza) sings with him while playing the guitar one day, he is amazed by her singing voice and decides to manage a band called "Selena y los Dinos" with Selena as the lead singer, and his son A.B. (Rafael Tamayo, Jacob Vargas
) on bass, and his other daughter Suzette (Victoria Elena Flores, Jackie Guerra) on drums. He soon opens a restaurant for people to eat at and there Selena sings in front of the customers, and is warmly received. Unfortunately, the Quintanilla family goes bankrupt and lose the restaurant. They move to Corpus Christi, Texas
to live with Abraham's brother. There, Selena performs at a carnival and is poorly received, but one day, while the family is on the beach Marcela hears a song on the radio and teaches Selena about a rhythm called Cumbia , which helps her and her band becomes more popular.
In 1990, Selena (now played by Jennifer Lopez
) meets a guitarist named Chris Perez, who after joining the band, develops a friendship with Selena. Abraham does not approve of Chris after his former rock band members trash a hotel suite even though he greatly helped in making music for the band. Chris and Selena's friendships grows into love and when Abraham catches them hugging before a concert, he fires Chris from the band and threatens a heartbroken Selena that if she continues seeing him, he will disband the Dinos.
Selena and Chris continue seeing each other behind Abraham's back, but soon Selena becomes tired and tells Chris that she wants to marry him right away. Selena and Chris elope secretly, but their marriage soon makes headlines on the radio. Selena goes to see Abraham, but he tells her that he is glad she did what she did, only wanting what was best for her. Chris is accepted into the Quintanilla family and returns to being the guitarist for Los Dinos.
During one of Selena's live performances, Jose Behar (the head of EMI Latin
) and his music associates tell Abraham that they want to make an English language album for Selena. Soon, Selena opens her first boutique called "Selena Etc.", which her fan-club president Yolanda Saldivar
manages, and her album Selena Live!
wins a Grammy Award
for Best Mexican-American album
. As 1995 begins, she starts recording her Crossover Album and Saldivar gives her a friendship ring, lying that it was only from her.
Later, Selena finds out from Abraham that Yolanda was stealing money from the fan club and a lot of business records have gone missing. Abraham, Selena, and Suzette confront Yolanda about the evidence, but she denies taking anything from Selena at all. Selena continues to achieve fame and her concert at the Houston Astrodome on February 26 attracts a record breaking crowd. However, just one month later, on March 31, she is shot and killed by Saldivar while attempting to recover the missing records from her. Saldivar is arrested after a brief standoff while Selena's fans, friends, and family are left grieving over her death.
The film ends with footage of the real Selena while the song "Dreaming of You
" plays.
Some of Selena's recordings were used on the soundtrack (see soundtrack below).
Filming of the movie took place around San Antonio, Texas
and Corpus Christi, Texas
, and some other cities in Texas.
In the noted stadium scenes, where Selena once performed, the producers used approximately 35,000 extras. The stadium scenes are arguably the film's centerpiece. Filming took place at the Alamodome
in San Antonio, rather than the actual concert location: the Astrodome in Houston.
, a New York City
native born to Puerto Rican parents, was selected to play Selena. They preferred an actress with Mexican roots. However, after seeing Lopez's portrayal of Selena, they revised their opinions and were more accepting of Nava's decision.
Director Nava and Abraham Quintanilla both spoke about the scene where Selena talks Chris Perez into eloping and how when Quintanilla first read the scene, he wanted the scene removed because Selena had a lot of young female fans and they were impressionable and they should not be led to believe that eloping is the right way to be married. While Nava agreed with Quintanilla about that, he maintained that the scene should be in the film because that was the way it really happened and that when he and Selena reconcile a short time later, it makes him look good and sympathetic too. After five days of wrangling with Quintanilla, Nava finally convinced Quintanilla to keep the scene although he asked Nava just how he knew that what happened in the scene is really what happened. Nava explained that he had been told by Chris Perez and had a laugh at the thought that up until that point, Quintanilla had believed that it was Perez who talked Selena into eloping, not realizing it was really the other way around.
, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times
, was impressed by the acting, and gave Selena three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "Young Selena is played by Becky Lee Meza, who has a big smile and a lot of energy. The teenage and adult Selena is played by Lopez in a star-making performance. After her strong work as the passionate lover of Jack Nicholson
in the current Blood and Wine
, here she creates a completely different performance, as a loyal Quintanilla who does most of her growing up on a tour bus with her dad at the wheel."
Film critic Lisa Kropiewnicki liked the film and wrote, "Jennifer Lopez delivers a breakout performance...[and] Nava's engaging script wisely mines his subject's life for humor and conflict, embracing Selena Quintanilla's passion for music."
Film critic James Berardinelli
also liked the film and the screenplay, writing, "It would have been easy to trivialize Selena's story, turning it into a sudsy, made-for-TV
type motion picture." He believed the acting was top notch and wrote "Jennifer Lopez is radiant as the title character, conveying the boundless energy and enthusiasm that exemplified Selena, while effectively copying not only her look, but her mannerisms. I wonder if Selena's family, upon watching this performance, felt an eerie sense of déjà vu
."
Los Angeles Times
film critic Kenneth Turan
gave the film a mixed review. He wrote the film is part of a "completely predictable Latino soap opera." Yet, "there are chunks of Selena that only a stone could resist. This movie turns out to be a celebration not only of the singer but also (as "What's Love" was for Angela Bassett
) of the actress who plays her, Jennifer Lopez."
Some film critics, however, did not like how the film appears like a sanitized Selena portrait
. Critic Walter Addiego considers Nava's work a worshipful biography
of her. Addiego, writing for the San Francisco Examiner, did have a few enjoyable moments viewing the film but wrote, "You can't help cheering for Selena, but the good feeling is diminished by the sense that her story's been simplified and sanitized."
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 64% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on thirty-nine reviews.
At Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, it has a rating score of 65, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".
A 10th Anniversary DVD edition of Selena was released on September 18, 2007 by Warner Home Video. The two-disc set contains the original theatrical version (127 minutes) and a director's cut version (134 minutes) of the film, which had been shown on several TV stations before. Extras include a Making of Selena: 10 Years Later featurette, a Queen of Tejano featurette, and nine additional scenes.
was released by EMI Latin
Records on March 11, 1997 debuting at 7 on the Billboard Charts and selling over 3,000,000 copies. The CD contains twelve tracks including Selena singing songs heard in the film. The only songs performed by Selena that were not heard on the film were "Is it the Beat", "Only Love", and "A Boy Like That", and the Selena tributes sung by other artists. The only recordings by Selena heard on the film were the "Cumbia Medley", "Disco Medley", and "Where Did the Feeling Go?", which was played in the last half of the closing credits of the film. The Vidal Brothers' "Oldies Medley" was also on the film.
Included are rare tracks, hits, and cuts like the "Disco Medley, Part II", recorded live during Selena's 1995 concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
.
Not all the songs are performed by Selena.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
about the life and career of the late Tejano music
Tejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
star Selena
Selena
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez , known simply as Selena, was a Mexican American singer-songwriter. She was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "Best selling Latin artist of the decade" by Billboard for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits...
, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
before she was shot to death at the age of twenty-three.
The movie stars Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
as Selena
Selena
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez , known simply as Selena, was a Mexican American singer-songwriter. She was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "Best selling Latin artist of the decade" by Billboard for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits...
, in her breakthrough role. Her father, Abraham Quintanilla, Jr., is played by Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
and Constance Marie
Constance Marie
Constance Marie Lopez is an American actress. Known professionally as Constance Marie, she is known for her role as Angie Lopez on George Lopez and for her role as Marcella Quintanilla in the 1997 film Selena...
plays Marcella Ofelia Samora–Quintanilla.
Plot
In 1961, a young Abraham QuintanillaAbraham Quintanilla Jr
Abraham Isaac Quintanilla, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the father of singer Selena, who was murdered in 1995.-Early life:...
and his band "The Dinos" are rejected by a white restaurant owner for an audition due to their "Whites Only" policy. They then perform to a Mexican audience at a nightclub called "Lerma's", but a riot ensues when they sing "We Belong Together" and the band is forced to flee.
In 1981, Abraham is married to Marcela Samora and now has three kids. When his daughter Selena (Rebecca Lee Meza) sings with him while playing the guitar one day, he is amazed by her singing voice and decides to manage a band called "Selena y los Dinos" with Selena as the lead singer, and his son A.B. (Rafael Tamayo, Jacob Vargas
Jacob Vargas
-Early life:Vargas was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, since 1971. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family.-Career:...
) on bass, and his other daughter Suzette (Victoria Elena Flores, Jackie Guerra) on drums. He soon opens a restaurant for people to eat at and there Selena sings in front of the customers, and is warmly received. Unfortunately, the Quintanilla family goes bankrupt and lose the restaurant. They move to Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
to live with Abraham's brother. There, Selena performs at a carnival and is poorly received, but one day, while the family is on the beach Marcela hears a song on the radio and teaches Selena about a rhythm called Cumbia , which helps her and her band becomes more popular.
In 1990, Selena (now played by Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
) meets a guitarist named Chris Perez, who after joining the band, develops a friendship with Selena. Abraham does not approve of Chris after his former rock band members trash a hotel suite even though he greatly helped in making music for the band. Chris and Selena's friendships grows into love and when Abraham catches them hugging before a concert, he fires Chris from the band and threatens a heartbroken Selena that if she continues seeing him, he will disband the Dinos.
Selena and Chris continue seeing each other behind Abraham's back, but soon Selena becomes tired and tells Chris that she wants to marry him right away. Selena and Chris elope secretly, but their marriage soon makes headlines on the radio. Selena goes to see Abraham, but he tells her that he is glad she did what she did, only wanting what was best for her. Chris is accepted into the Quintanilla family and returns to being the guitarist for Los Dinos.
During one of Selena's live performances, Jose Behar (the head of EMI Latin
EMI Latin
EMI Televisa Music, also known as EMI Latin and EMI International, is a subsidiary of EMI which focuses on Latin American music....
) and his music associates tell Abraham that they want to make an English language album for Selena. Soon, Selena opens her first boutique called "Selena Etc.", which her fan-club president Yolanda Saldivar
Yolanda Saldívar
Yolanda Saldívar is a Mexican American woman who was convicted in 1995 of the murder of Tejano music singer Selena at a Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 31, 1995.- Early life :...
manages, and her album Selena Live!
Selena Live!
"Live!" or "Selena Live!" is a live album by American Tejano pop singer Selena, released on May 4, 1993 by EMI Latin. The album was re-released on September 22, 2002 as part of the Selena: 20 Years of Music collection that included spoken liner notes by her family, friends and her former band...
wins a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Mexican-American album
Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album
The Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album was an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the Mexican music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
. As 1995 begins, she starts recording her Crossover Album and Saldivar gives her a friendship ring, lying that it was only from her.
Later, Selena finds out from Abraham that Yolanda was stealing money from the fan club and a lot of business records have gone missing. Abraham, Selena, and Suzette confront Yolanda about the evidence, but she denies taking anything from Selena at all. Selena continues to achieve fame and her concert at the Houston Astrodome on February 26 attracts a record breaking crowd. However, just one month later, on March 31, she is shot and killed by Saldivar while attempting to recover the missing records from her. Saldivar is arrested after a brief standoff while Selena's fans, friends, and family are left grieving over her death.
The film ends with footage of the real Selena while the song "Dreaming of You
Dreaming of You
Dreaming of You is the sixth and final studio album, and second posthumous album, by American Tejano pop singer Selena, and was released on July 18, 1995, by EMI Records and EMI Latin...
" plays.
Cast
- Jennifer LopezJennifer LopezJennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
as Selena Quintanilla-PérezSelenaSelena Quintanilla-Pérez , known simply as Selena, was a Mexican American singer-songwriter. She was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "Best selling Latin artist of the decade" by Billboard for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits... - Jackie GuerraJackie GuerraJackie Guerra is an American actress best known for being the first Latina to star in a network sitcom, First Time Out. She also co-starred in the PBS series, American Family in addition to co-starring roles in feature films including a role as Jennifer Lopez’s drum playing sister in the Warner Bros...
as Suzette QuintanillaSelena y Los DinosSelena y Los Dinos was the band in which Grammy-Award-winning Tejano music singer Selena performed, until her death on March 31, 1995. Selena fronted the band since 1980, started by her father Abraham Quintanilla, Jr.... - Constance MarieConstance MarieConstance Marie Lopez is an American actress. Known professionally as Constance Marie, she is known for her role as Angie Lopez on George Lopez and for her role as Marcella Quintanilla in the 1997 film Selena...
as Marcella Quintanilla - Alexandra MenesesAlex MenesesAlexandra Estella DeAnna "Alex" Meneses is an American television and film actress and model.She was born in Chicago of Mexican American descent on her father's side and Ukrainian American descent on her mother's. Meneses studied acting at Chicago's The Second City Improvisational Theater during...
as Sara - Jon SedaJon SedaJonathan Seda is an American actor, possibly best known for his role as Detective Paul Falsone on NBC's: Homicide: Life on the Street....
as Chris PérezChris PerezChristopher Gilbert "Chris" Pérez is a American guitarist and the widower of "The Queen of Tejano music" Selena. He is currently a guitarist for A.B. Quintanilla III y Los Kumbia All Starz since he joined in 2006. Prior to that, Pérez was the lead guitarist for his wife's band Selena y Los Dinos... - Edward James OlmosEdward James OlmosEdward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
as Abraham Quintanilla Jr. - Jacob VargasJacob Vargas-Early life:Vargas was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, since 1971. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family.-Career:...
as A.B. QuintanillaA.B. QuintanillaAbraham Isaac Quintanilla III better known as A.B. Quintanilla III or simply A.B. Quintanilla, is an American songwriter, record producer and musician. He is the older brother of "The Queen of Tejano music" Selena... - Lupe OntiverosLupe OntiverosLupe Ontiveros is an American film and television actress. Ontiveros has acted in numerous films and television shows, most often playing a maid or, more recently, an all-knowing grandmother; she estimates she has played a maid between 150 and 300 times on screen.-Early life:Ontiveros was born...
as Yolanda SaldívarYolanda SaldívarYolanda Saldívar is a Mexican American woman who was convicted in 1995 of the murder of Tejano music singer Selena at a Days Inn motel in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 31, 1995.- Early life :... - Pete AstudilloPete AstudilloPedro "Pete" Astudillo is a Mexican American songwriter.-Life:Astudillo was one of the leaders of the Tejano music scene, and from an early age followed mariachi and conjunto music. He began his musical career as a backup vocalist for the queen of Tejano, Selena, as a member of Selena y Los Dinos...
as himself, Dinos 1990s - Ruben Gonzalez as Joe Ojeda
- Rebecca Lee Meza as Young Selena
- Selena Quintanilla-PérezSelenaSelena Quintanilla-Pérez , known simply as Selena, was a Mexican American singer-songwriter. She was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "Best selling Latin artist of the decade" by Billboard for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits...
as Herself (singing voice) (archive footage) - Victoria Elena Flores as Young Suzette
- Rafael Tamayo as Young A.B.A.B. QuintanillaAbraham Isaac Quintanilla III better known as A.B. Quintanilla III or simply A.B. Quintanilla, is an American songwriter, record producer and musician. He is the older brother of "The Queen of Tejano music" Selena...
- Panchito Gomez as Young Abraham
- Seidy LópezSeidy LópezSeidy López is a Mexican-American actress and director.López is best known for her starring debut in the critically acclaimed film Mi Vida Loca. She appeared in Solo, the hit film Selena, in Quentin Tarantino's ER episode, and as a recurring character on Showtime's Resurrection Boulevard...
as Deborah - Ricky VelaRicky VelaRicardo "Ricky" Vela is an award-winning song-writer and keyboards for the band Selena y Los Dinos. Ricky Vela joined the band as the bands keyboard player...
as himself, Dinos 1990s - Don Shelton as himself, Dinos 1990s
Production
Selena was produced with the participation of the Quintanilla family, and her father Abraham is the executive producer of the film. One scene features Chris Perez playing the guitar for the family using closeup footage of his hands and the shot was filmed specifically for the movie. On the movie's DVD extra "Making of Selena: 10 Years Later," Jon Seda said that he tried to learn the guitar while staying with Chris Perez to learn how to act like him but it was impossible for him to learn the guitar and play it the way Perez does in only three months time. According to Seda, Perez never visited the set, so Seda called Perez and asked him to come down and see what was happening. After some haggling, Perez finally acquiesced and when arriving on set, he knew something was up when he realized they were filming the scene of his audition in front of Abraham Quintanilla. Seda talked Perez into doing the guitar solo on the closeup shot of his hands and Perez agreed. After his hands were made up to match Seda's, he improvised the guitar solo on the spot with everyone watching him. Seda said that later, people were complimenting him on his guitar skills and he had to tell them it was really Perez.Some of Selena's recordings were used on the soundtrack (see soundtrack below).
Filming of the movie took place around San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
and Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
, and some other cities in Texas.
In the noted stadium scenes, where Selena once performed, the producers used approximately 35,000 extras. The stadium scenes are arguably the film's centerpiece. Filming took place at the Alamodome
Alamodome
The Alamodome is a domed 65,000 seat, multi-purpose facility that is primarily used as a football/basketball stadium and convention center in San Antonio, Texas, U.S...
in San Antonio, rather than the actual concert location: the Astrodome in Houston.
Controversy and Facts
During pre-production, Mexican-American activists were highly critical that Jennifer LopezJennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
native born to Puerto Rican parents, was selected to play Selena. They preferred an actress with Mexican roots. However, after seeing Lopez's portrayal of Selena, they revised their opinions and were more accepting of Nava's decision.
Director Nava and Abraham Quintanilla both spoke about the scene where Selena talks Chris Perez into eloping and how when Quintanilla first read the scene, he wanted the scene removed because Selena had a lot of young female fans and they were impressionable and they should not be led to believe that eloping is the right way to be married. While Nava agreed with Quintanilla about that, he maintained that the scene should be in the film because that was the way it really happened and that when he and Selena reconcile a short time later, it makes him look good and sympathetic too. After five days of wrangling with Quintanilla, Nava finally convinced Quintanilla to keep the scene although he asked Nava just how he knew that what happened in the scene is really what happened. Nava explained that he had been told by Chris Perez and had a laugh at the thought that up until that point, Quintanilla had believed that it was Perez who talked Selena into eloping, not realizing it was really the other way around.
Critical response
Selena received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, was impressed by the acting, and gave Selena three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "Young Selena is played by Becky Lee Meza, who has a big smile and a lot of energy. The teenage and adult Selena is played by Lopez in a star-making performance. After her strong work as the passionate lover of Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
in the current Blood and Wine
Blood and Wine
Blood and Wine is a neo-noir thriller directed by Bob Rafelson from a screenplay written by Nick Villiers and Alison Cross. It stars Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Lopez, Stephen Dorff, Judy Davis and Michael Caine...
, here she creates a completely different performance, as a loyal Quintanilla who does most of her growing up on a tour bus with her dad at the wheel."
Film critic Lisa Kropiewnicki liked the film and wrote, "Jennifer Lopez delivers a breakout performance...[and] Nava's engaging script wisely mines his subject's life for humor and conflict, embracing Selena Quintanilla's passion for music."
Film critic James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
also liked the film and the screenplay, writing, "It would have been easy to trivialize Selena's story, turning it into a sudsy, made-for-TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
type motion picture." He believed the acting was top notch and wrote "Jennifer Lopez is radiant as the title character, conveying the boundless energy and enthusiasm that exemplified Selena, while effectively copying not only her look, but her mannerisms. I wonder if Selena's family, upon watching this performance, felt an eerie sense of déjà vu
Déjà vu
Déjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
."
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
film critic Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
gave the film a mixed review. He wrote the film is part of a "completely predictable Latino soap opera." Yet, "there are chunks of Selena that only a stone could resist. This movie turns out to be a celebration not only of the singer but also (as "What's Love" was for Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...
) of the actress who plays her, Jennifer Lopez."
Some film critics, however, did not like how the film appears like a sanitized Selena portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
. Critic Walter Addiego considers Nava's work a worshipful biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of her. Addiego, writing for the San Francisco Examiner, did have a few enjoyable moments viewing the film but wrote, "You can't help cheering for Selena, but the good feeling is diminished by the sense that her story's been simplified and sanitized."
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 64% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on thirty-nine reviews.
At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, it has a rating score of 65, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".
Awards
Nominations- Golden Globe AwardGolden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s: Best Performance by an actress in a Musical or Comedy motion picture, Jennifer Lopez. - ALMA AwardAlma AwardThe American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...
s: The film was nominated for six American Latino Media Awards (ALMA) and won four. - Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s: Best Instrumental Composition, Dave GrusinDave GrusinDavid Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
. - MTV Movie AwardsMTV Movie AwardsThe MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
: Best Breakthrough Performance, Jennifer Lopez.
Distribution
The film opened in wide release on March 21, 1997 (1,850 theaters) and sales the opening weekend were $11,615,722. Selena ran for 15 weeks domestically (101 days) and eventually grossed* 60,000,000 ($35,281,794 in the United States. The film sales worldwide were considerably more. At its widest release the film was shown in 1,873 screens. The production budget of the film was approximately $20,000,000.A 10th Anniversary DVD edition of Selena was released on September 18, 2007 by Warner Home Video. The two-disc set contains the original theatrical version (127 minutes) and a director's cut version (134 minutes) of the film, which had been shown on several TV stations before. Extras include a Making of Selena: 10 Years Later featurette, a Queen of Tejano featurette, and nine additional scenes.
Marketing
The following taglines were used to market the film:- The story of a girl who had the spirit to believe in a dream and the courage to make it come true.
- For One Brilliant, Shining Moment...The American Dream Came True.
- Discover the true story of one of America's brightest stars...that faded too soon.
- Her legend, her legacy and her music live on. (Used to promote DVD re-release).
Soundtrack
An original motion picture Selena soundtrackSelena (soundtrack)
Selena: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the film, Selena, starring Jennifer Lopez and featuring unreleased songs by Selena, including "Where Did the Feeling Go?", "Only Love", "Is It the Beat?" and "Disco Medley"...
was released by EMI Latin
EMI Latin
EMI Televisa Music, also known as EMI Latin and EMI International, is a subsidiary of EMI which focuses on Latin American music....
Records on March 11, 1997 debuting at 7 on the Billboard Charts and selling over 3,000,000 copies. The CD contains twelve tracks including Selena singing songs heard in the film. The only songs performed by Selena that were not heard on the film were "Is it the Beat", "Only Love", and "A Boy Like That", and the Selena tributes sung by other artists. The only recordings by Selena heard on the film were the "Cumbia Medley", "Disco Medley", and "Where Did the Feeling Go?", which was played in the last half of the closing credits of the film. The Vidal Brothers' "Oldies Medley" was also on the film.
Included are rare tracks, hits, and cuts like the "Disco Medley, Part II", recorded live during Selena's 1995 concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston, is the world's largest live entertainment and livestock exhibition. It also includes the richest regular-season rodeo event. It has been held at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003...
.
Not all the songs are performed by Selena.