Film Review: SELENA GOMEZ: MY MIND & ME (2022): Alek Keshishian’s Documentary Gives Us a Hopeful Glimpse Inside a Music Star’s Mental Health Struggles

Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me Review

Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Alek Keshishian, written by Paul Marchand and Alek Keshishian and starring Selena Gomez, Nayanna Holley, Aglae Kounkou, Maestro Robinson and Benjamin Sturley.

Alek Keshishian’s new documentary on the life of Selena Gomez titled Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is absolutely daring and focuses in on the talents and the remarkable, unique thoughts of Gomez who came to cope with her diagnosis of bipolar disorder. You don’t have to be a Gomez fan to relate to the way the singer/actress perceives life and yearns to see her experiences make a difference to other people who need hope and inspiration in the world.

Gomez is known for having dated Justin Bieber and a lot of the publicity she received during the time surrounding her interactions with Bieber was about that relationship. This film isn’t about Bieber and Gomez’s time together, though. It’s mostly about how Gomez overcame physical and mental challenges to become a beacon of hope to many people throughout the world. She had a kidney transplant and suffered from depression which manifested itself in her career and in her perception of the outside world around her.

The best scenes of Keshishian’s picture are set in Kenya when Gomez traveled there and interacted with local women, one of whom believed that she needed to find the foundations of herself before she could even try to experience romantic love. That young lady was definitely on to something. Another woman Gomez encountered in Kenya wanted to end her life and when she didn’t, she soon found her purpose and became an inspiration to others. Gomez becomes inspired, herself, in this scene which sets the stage for the goals Gomez yearned to achieve and succeed in fulfilling.

When Gomez was young, she was raised by her mom who had her when she was young. As a little girl, Gomez appeared on Barney which probably helped her get into the show business spotlight. Gomez visits the school she went to when she was young at one point in the movie, and she thinks about her past crushes on boys who didn’t reciprocate her feelings of affection. This is also a very intriguing section of the movie because it shows Gomez and the way she was a loner in school and how she felt like an outcast. It’s very easy to understand Gomez’s hopes and dreams.

When the movie delves deep into Gomez’s thoughts about life after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, that is where the documentary is, again, very fascinating to watch. Gomez believed that we are taught how to deal with our emotions as very young children but not as older kids and beyond. She truly has some very powerful points when one considers the importance of dealing with mental health at all ages.

There is some of Gomez’s music in Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me and it’s terrific when we hear it but it’s not the essence of the movie. Gomez’s life is the focus of the picture and her battles with lupus and depression are inspiring and prove that there is hope even in the most challenging of circumstances. There are scenes of Gomez going on stage to perform and they are informative and interesting but it’s the ultimate work that derives from Gomez’s wishes to help others that makes what the movie does so worthwhile to watch.

Another very touching scene comes at an event where Gomez meets a young woman who had tried to take her own life and decides to hug her. The dialogue between them disappears and is irrelevant because Gomez just wants to reach out to her. Whatever has to be said after that embrace doesn’t matter because the fact that this woman was challenged by her mental health is enough for Gomez to care about her.

I liked Keshishian’s picture a lot but it’s not perfect. It focuses a lot on 2016 through the present day and shows how COVID impacted the world late in the movie but there were more things that the movie could have done with what led to Gomez’s ultimate depression and deep inner struggles. We see how she coped with bipolar disorder and how she changed the world afterwards but we could have known a bit more about what led her to recognize her inner demons and her anxiety.

Still, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is a very good picture that stands as a powerful documentary that shows viewers how they can change their own world through the process of coping with their feelings and examining those emotions accordingly. You don’t have to suffer from bipolar disorder to understand Gomez and the fact that she triumphed against the odds really proves to be a moving story. It’s inspirational and uplifting actually and Gomez truly overcame a lot to achieve what she has achieved thus far at such a young age. This film is well worth seeing.

Rating: 8/10

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