If one knows anything about Latin music, then no introduction to J Balvin is necessary. However, this film stands as an introduction to those who perhaps had no clue who he was. Admittedly, I was one of those people who had no clue. He's been active for over the past decade and has several hit songs, including one with Beyoncé. Director Matthew Heineman even puts together a montage that shows that J Balvin has won several awards, including Grammys, and President Obama even shouted him out. Yet, I never paid any attention to him or even realized he was such an international success. The first time that he entered my consciousness was last year when McDonald's dedicated a special meal on their menu to J Balvin. It's not included in this documentary, but J Balvin also made the Guinness World Records for how long his song "Ginza" was atop the charts. He's sold tons of albums, so much that he's considered one of the best-selling Latin artists of all time. He performs to sold-out stadiums. In the Spanish-speaking world, he truly is a sensation.
Heineman's film documents J Balvin, leading up to his 2019 concert in his hometown in Colombia. It starts out with him on stage in Mexico City to a huge crowd. However, Heineman's camera remains behind J Balvin in order to show the crowd, really emphasizing the crowd's engagement or interaction with J Balvin. If you're a non-Spanish speaker, Heineman doesn't provide subtitles to J Balvin's song lyrics. The only subtitles or translations occur when J Balvin is simply talking, even when he's talking on stage. He'll occasionally stop the music to speak directly to the audience at his concert. It's then that non-Spanish speakers can get an idea of what his music or what his message is about.
Most of the documentary is observational or fly-on-the-wall. Heineman's work is close to cinema vérité where his camera captures intimate moments like J Balvin in bed or lying with his girlfriend, or even him being nude in the shower. In some scenes, Heineman also shoots it like a narrative film. Yet, Heineman does do traditional documentary stuff, such as sitting J Balvin in a chair and interviewing him where he talks directly to camera. In those interviews, J Balvin reveals that he's dealt with depression and mental health issues. He talks about seeing the light and he actually has everyone in the crowd turn on the their cell phone flashes to create this sea of light in the darkness. The documentary incorporates video footage of the pop star when he was younger, as he describes his coming from poverty and his struggles financially, which resulted in suicidal thoughts. Now, he pushes positivity constantly, encouraging the same and being a celebrity that always tries to embrace his fans and has fun.
However, there is an issue that arises that goes to J Balvin's celebrity status. It might be the reason why Heineman decided to profile or follow J Balvin in the first place. Leading up to his concert in November 2019, there was a lot of unrest in Colombia. In fact, a series of protests and marches had begun all over the country. With J Balvin doing a concert in the wake of all that, people were criticizing him on social media about the fact that he had not spoken out about the protests and the issues plaguing young people in his native land. Heineman's camera follows J Balvin to show how an artist deals with that kind of criticism and the conflict that it creates for him in terms of how to conduct himself in order to be true to himself and also acknowledge his clear connection to his fans and to the people of his country.
Heineman's focus on this criticism and conflict elevates this documentary beyond the typical concert film. There have been great concert films like
Gimme Shelter (1970) and
Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) or even Beyoncé's
Homecoming (2019). Those films though were mainly about the artist and their performance, as well as what the process was for making the stage show come to life or be executed. Arguably, this film is less about J Balvin's music or how he crafts it or what his process is for making the beats or the lyrics. Yes, the final few minutes of the film features the concert and seeing him perform songs but only snippets of it. More time is spent on his pre-concert rituals and backstage jitters or excitement, such as how his four-hour plus show requires him to have to urinate into a bottle.
In actuality, the film is more about J Balvin wrestling with his dual identity. J Balvin's real name is José Álvaro Osorio Balvín. When he refers to his celebrity status and his professional persona, he's J Balvin. When he refers to his original and authentic self, he's José. This dual identity is admittedly his own creation and his own fault. It's not to blame him though. Many people have a persona that's different in public than their persona when in private. There isn't essentially a difference between the two for J Balvin, but his struggle is akin to the struggle that we saw explored in One Night in Miami (2020) with regard to Sam Cooke. We even saw it explored in the Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance (2020). The struggle involves a celebrity being pressured to speak out politically when protests or some social issue arises nationally when the celebrity just wants to remain neutral, so to speak, and entertain.
It's reminiscent of the documentary
Shut Up and Sing (2006). That film was about the country group, known as the Dixie Chicks. What happened to them was a bit of the reverse of what happens to J Balvin. The Dixie Chicks' lead singer, Natalie Maines spoke out against President George W. Bush and she suffered a backlash. J Balvin gets a bit of backlash for not speaking out against the Colombian president and the situation there. The Dixie Chicks aren't named here, but J Balvin's manager does imply the even worse backlash that could happen if he does speak out like Maines did. J Balvin in some ways feeds off the love of his fans. Obviously, he doesn't want to lose that love and that fandom. Pressure builds in both directions and J Balvin has to decide if he's going to make a statement or if he's going to do as the title of that 2006 flick suggests, which for him is shut up and rap to Reggaeton beats.
Rated R for language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 35 mins.
Available on Amazon Prime.
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