Why Jennifer Lopez screams her resentment out loud in “Halftime” on Netflix

Jennifer Lopez is an icon and at the same time a typical case of the difficulties that a star-actress of Selena He’s been in the world of film and music for years – you can afford it, if you’re Latina and a woman. And just like Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga had their documentaries, Lopez did Half the time (half the time), That Netflix It just premiered after the opening of the TriBeCa Festival in New York.

These types of productions are made as a kind of fan service (fan service), who will love the movie as much as they love her. Those who hate her will find everything negative in the documentary (Lopez does not appear in the credits of Half the time as a producer, but it is clear that she is the alma mater of the project).

The problem is for those who come to stream without having a position ahead of the pop star, movie star, and business woman.

Yes, let’s say, the “broad middle avenue”, the one traveled by millions of people who, if they know Jennifer, it is more for her love affairs than for the films. Y Medio tiempo will not provide much information on her career, but on the ambitions and resentments of the actress, daughter of Puerto Ricans who emigrated to the Bronx.

Jennifer Lopez face washed and with all makeup is shown Half the timethe film that is somewhat self-centered, to put it mildly, and that begins with her celebrating her 50th birthday in July 2019, and follows her through a seven-month gap that will, at least in her vision, be crucial.

The first major event is the premiere of cheaters (Wall Street crooks) at the Toronto Film Festival, a facility that usually triggers wishes for Oscar nominations, which in Lopez’s case had their livelihood. In case you missed it, the film is a comedy-drama in which she co-produced and starred as the leader of a group of strippers who plan to scam their Wall Street clients.

Not everyone knows that the juries are not the ones who decide whether an actor is “protagonist” or “support” when it comes to naming him. It is the production company of the film that “candidates”, puts its performers into consideration, clarifying in which category they want to apply. Lopez is the lead, but for some reason that the film doesn’t make clear (do you think she would have more chances as a supporting actress?), She was nominated as a supporting actress.

To revalidate your results

Lopez has suffered and a lot to be where he is. And you want to get recognition. You want to (re) validate your results.

She doesn’t get it – she doesn’t win the Golden Globe for Supporting Actress, and she doesn’t even get an Oscar nomination in the same category: in both cases she won Laura Dern, who we can see right now as paleontologist Ellie Sattler in Jurassic world dominationand who took home awards for playing Scarlett Johansson’s attorney in story of a wedding.

Lopez is proud of herself and her achievements. Before the start of the credits, several plaques testify to their success in numbers: what their films have grossed -OK, some with George Clooney-, the sales of their records and more. Previously, it was said that she had 10 Raid nominations for worst of the year (or worst of a decade).

In between, the NFL invites her to join the Super Bowl halftime (or halftime, for us, and hence the title of the documentary) show. There is a political question: the final will be in Miami, she is Latin. But the setbacks will come one after another. She won’t be the only one on the show, since they also invite another Latina (Shakira), so she’ll have to split her time on the stage in half.

Lopez, who is also candid in showing how she teaches dancers a lesson in her show, tells the camera: “This is the worst idea in the world, for two people to have the Super Bowl.” “It was an insult to say that they needed two Latinas to do the work that an artist has historically done,” her manager says in front of the camera.

There will be hundreds of millions of spectators of the show. He will already be talking to Shakira – it is not clear why they do it in English in the intimate telephone conversation, unless he has already thought about the documentary – and he will have to deal with the fact that, the night before the event, the people of the The NFL wants to veto the idea of ​​eighteen girls appearing in cages, to testify to Trump’s cruelty in separating the children of Mexicans who are caught trying to illegally enter the United States.

That “America I didn’t recognize,” says Jennifer, who will finally do what she wanted to do.

Jennifer and Shakira’s intermission show in February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic, is remembered as one of the most memorable musical performances.

Ben Affleck hardly shows up – there has been no mention of dating, since 2021, and when he asks her in the past if she doesn’t mind how they treat her in Hollywood, she says, “I’m Latina, I’m a woman, I expected that. “.

Lopez has been cruelly mistreated by the media, and not only by the tabloids – which include her on the cover here – but also by the hosts of major late-night talk shows, and even the animated program South Park. All of this. it’s in the documentary. She knows this and assumes that she is considered a serial bride, due to the number of couples she has met.

The affair with Lopez and what it ultimately shows Half the timeis that this need to feel appreciated, validated, ends up obscuring – at least in the way the documentary does – everything she has done and continues to do so that other women and other Latinas don’t have to suffer what she has suffered.

Because there is more emphasis on the lack of recognition in Hollywood than on Jennifer’s inspiring life story. The resentment with the Golden Globe (“it took 20 years to nominate me again,” she says with a shake of her head, as if many of the mundane films she has made deserved recognition) and with the Oscar they show it as a resentful, accusatory and self-centered.

If you look at Lopez’s numbers, his success is impressive. What is not known is whether Half time will add fans.