![]() And if its diaristic, inside-out approach has the strange effect of keeping us at a distance (obscuring the details of Gomez’s distress behind Insta-poetry like “How do I learn how to breathe my own breath?,” and whispered Malickian prayers like “Why have I become so far from the light?”), it also invites its most vulnerable young viewers to appreciate that even their favorite superstar is still fighting to be closer to herself. It’s not a movie about healing so much as a movie about learning to hurt in the healthiest way possible. Where Swift and Eilish’s docs traced narratively satisfying trajectories - their stories dressing old wounds in new triumphs - Gomez’s is (elegantly) cobbled together from spare parts, its nominal tension derived from a shared fear that the center won’t hold. The movie that “My Mind & Me” ultimately became isn’t a tour doc at all, but rather an unguarded glimpse at how Gomez rebuilt herself after her own breakdown. To the credit of the filmmaker and his subject alike, Keshishian returned to the project once Gomez got back on her feet, and his film papers over the time gaps with powerful bursts of talking head testimony from the singer’s loved ones (mostly about reckoning with her illnesses and getting her the treatment she needed). In part, that’s because the basic premise of the project blew up on the launchpad when the “Revival” tour that Keshishian had been hired to shoot in 2016 was canceled after 55 performances due to Gomez’s depression and its underlying causes. ![]() Where “My Mind & Me” differs from other documentaries like it, however, is in its unresolved messiness. The film may not be much of an ad for any particular album or tour (it spends more time on Gomez’s philanthropy than it does her music, and doesn’t even mention “Only Murders in the Building”), but it does a great job of selling you on Gomez’s person, on her humanity, and on the generosity of her spirit. 'Suzume' Review: Makoto Shinkai's Natural Disaster Epic Is Earth-Shatteringly Goodġ7 HBO and HBO Max Original Series to Get Excited About in 2023 'Cocaine Bear' Review: Over-the-Top Bloodbath Gives February Movie Season a Bump Directed by Alek Keshishian - who all but invented this entire sub-genre with “Madonna: Truth or Dare” more than 30 years ago - “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” follows a similar template as its predecessors, and primarily serves as a chance for the cherubic “Love You to Love Me” singer to set the record straight on the various issues that strangers have used to define her. Whatever was in the water, things all came together and aligned at the right time, and a true soul-funk classic record was born.Now it’s Selena Gomez’s turn, and after her public struggles with lupus, bi-polar disorder, and Justin Bieber, it’s no surprise that she can bare her soul with the best of them. Joe had prepared a quick illustration for a photographer to depict in a collage for the album art, however, the label ended up using his original sketches for the final cover. The simple cartoon-like almost pre-Basquiat style record cover artwork has become iconic in its own right, but this was not the original intention. The group members for the recording were neighbourhood musicians and school friends from the Washington D.C area - George "Jackie" Lee (Guitar), Gregory Hammonds (Bass), Charles Steptoe (Drums), Karrissa Freeman (Keyboards), Johnny Freeman (Trombone), Leon Rogers (Sax/Vocals) and Joe (Trumpet/Vocals). These triumphs also drew the attention of record company executives who wanted to sign Joe as a solo artist an offer he refused as he was not willing to abandon the band. The album track '(I've Got) So Much Trouble In My Mind’ even became a regular feature on the legendary TV show, Soul Train. The success of the hit song and album enabled the band to share the stage with big-name acts such as James Brown and Earth Wind & Fire. The self-tiled Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul album from 1973 was the only album recorded by the group. Whether it be in its infancy being played live on the Washington D.C scene back in the early 70s, over the pond in the '80s for the UK rare-groove crowd, in the MPC's of hip-hop producers, or on today's discerning dancefloors, the song has hit a chord. By encapsulating these social injustices within an anthemic song there is little wonder this powerful soul-funk production has become a much-loved and timeless classic. Problems at work, pollution, confusion, and addiction are universal stresses regardless of time and place. The lyrics of Sir Joe Quarterman's 'I've Got So Much Trouble In My Mind' resonate now as much as they did back in 1972.
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