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‘Selena y Los Dinos’ Review: Definitive Doc on the Tejano Music Icon Surprises with Candid Footage and Unspoken Observations
Isabel Castro's documentary 'Selena y Los Dinos' assembles a tribute that touches on all key biographical beats without seeming prosaic.
This definitive doc about Selena feels comprehensive and illuminating, thanks to candid family interactions found in home movies from their earliest performances at their restaurant, recordings of local Texas TV station appearances, and eventually images captured on the road while traveling in a makeshift tour bus. Thought Cuevas doesn’t explicitly extrapolate Selena’s success as a foundational piece of the current global boom of Spanish-language music in diverse genres, one can’t help but think about how the industry and culture at large has changed, with Spanish-speaking acts now drawing major crowds around the world and dominating the charts at home and abroad. To cap this loving, playful and inevitably poignant portrait, Castro and Siraqyan found the perfectfinal clip, an almost prophetic statement on the endurance of art through those who appreciate it.The only suitable response to that reminder of her departure and her earned immortality alsocomes from the chorus of “Como La Flor”: “¡Ah-ah,ay, cómo me duele!” Or, in English, “Oh, how it hurts.”
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