Newly fifty-year-old Jennifer Lopez recounts her journey as she prepares to perform at 54e Super Bowl with Shakira, and that she hopes to get an Oscar nomination for Hustlers.
Posted yesterday at 11:00 a.m.
The documentary on Jennifer Lopez, Half-time, is aptly named. First, because it shows the artist blowing out her 50 candles and claiming that she hasn’t finished moving forward. Two, because it revolves around the show she gave at the Super Bowl in 2020. And third, because he spends a lot, a lot of time (almost half) on Hustlershis 2019 feature film shunned at the Oscars, a subject that, three years later, no longer interests many people.
Interviewed in front of the lens of Amanda Micheli (Vegas Baby) during the first 10 minutes of the documentary, the actress, singer, producer and businesswoman declares that from now on she wants to “make films that are entertaining”, but “carry a message”.
Surprisingly, Half-time fulfills both of these promises.
We admit to being surprised, because we were far from anticipating such a committed documentary from ” Jenny from the block “.
The Bronx icon admits it herself from the outset: she has never been politicized. But when the National Football League contacted her to perform — with Shakira — the musical portion of 54e Super Bowl, being silent was unthinkable. After all, we were right in the middle of the Donald Trump era, an American president who spread racist anti-Spanish rhetoric.
Half-time shows how the star of Puerto Rican origin wanted to take advantage of the concert to “say something more”, notably by featuring children in cages (a reference to the conditions of detention of illegal immigrants in Texas).
On the pure entertainment side, watching J. Lo rehearse her performance while dragging her diamond-encrusted water bottle definitely tops the list, just ahead of her conversations with Shakira to negotiate their timing on the microphone.
Unexplored avenues
Efficiently built, Half-time worth a look, but for some reason Netflix’s offering pays an inordinate amount of attention to Hustlers (in French, Heels Scam), this dramatic comedy by Lorene Scafaria in which Jennifer Lopez plays a stripper who hatches a plan to rob rich Wall Street clients.
The documentary exposes everything, and even more: Jennifer practicing pole dancing, Jennifer filming, Jennifer at the Toronto Film Festival, a tired Jennifer who is moved by a positive review from the magazine. GlamourJennifer who wins a nomination for the Golden Globes… It’s frankly too much.
We would have liked the artist to address other topics in greater detail, such as his difficult beginnings in the industry, his family (Jennifer claims to have been beaten), Hollywood misogyny, etc. Yet rich, these themes are quickly evacuated. Even her green Versace dress from the 2000 Grammys is getting more airtime.
Thus, we finish the feature film with the impression of having only met a part of Jennifer Lopez, the one she wanted to show. ” I’m real she sings, but just when she feels like it.
Documentary
Half-time
Amanda Micheli
1:36
On Netflix