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Selena

Selena

Drama · Music · History · 1997

In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.

Movie details

Selena

“Discover the true story of one of America's brightest stars... that faded too soon.”

1997 Drama · Music · History 2h 7m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.9 / 10

33.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

66 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

67 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.7 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Selena?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Gregory Nava

Written by

Gregory Nava

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez

Selena Quintanilla

Jackie Guerra

Jackie Guerra

Suzette Quintanilla

Constance Marie

Constance Marie

Marcela Quintanilla

Alex Meneses

Alex Meneses

Sara

Jon Seda

Jon Seda

Chris Perez

Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos

Abraham Quintanilla

Jacob Vargas

Jacob Vargas

A. B. Quintanilla

Court is in session

Put Selena on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.