Following the release ofBeyoncé’s groundbreaking visual albumLemonadein 2016, concept records expressed through feature-length films have popped back into mainstream interest. In the years since, we’ve seen artists likeKacey Musgraves,Frank Ocean, andJanelle Monáereconceptualize the medium to immerse viewers in a cohesive, audiovisual experience thatblurs the lines between music and visual storytelling. This month,just in time for Valentine’s Day,Jennifer Lopezis sharing a large part of her heart and soul in the narrative-driven and semi-autobiographical cinematic odysseyThis Is Me… Now: A Love Story. Directed byDavid Meyers, it is a genre-bending, 65-minute feature film that showcases her journey to love through a very personal and raw lens. The experience is touching and heartfelt amid some very fragmented pieces.
This Is Me… Now
Coinciding with the release of her album of the same name, this narrative-driven odyssey tells the story of Jennifer Lopez’s journey to love through her own eyes.
Premiering February 15 onPrime Video,This Is Me…Now: A Love Storydrops in tandem with her first studio album in nearly a decade, giving fans a very personal peek into the introspective part of Lopez’s resilient heart and the flak she has endured over the years with tabloid bloodhounds. While the film largely delivers on its promise of her evolution, told ambitiously through music and strong metaphorical imagery, there is, tragically, a disconnect in its narrative that falls short and weakens Lopez’s very poignant message about love.
‘This Is Me…Now’ Embraces a Universal Love Story
If you’re expecting aromantic comedy, this isn’t exactly it. While Jennifer Lopez has no problem making fun of herself by subverting past tabloid tales and the staunch criticisms of her relationships,This Is Me… Now: A Love Storyis a deeply personal, introspective tale steeped in mythological storytelling and personal healing. It is in many ways about Lopez’s life after she and hernow-husbandBen Affleckfirst broke up just three days before their 2003 wedding. While we all know their inevitable endgame story now, much of the Prime Video feature is about her life in between that time, the choices she made, and the healing she needed from past trauma. In the film, she heads on a spiritual and emotional healing journey with her therapist, played byFat Joe. During their sessions, she shares her dreams and how broken she feels after a significant breakup. In the time that follows, she is supported by friends — who are also not the best. They talk behind her back and set up an intervention as she’s a “sex addict” all because she hasalways just wanted to be in love.
Those choices and the depths that follow in which she hopes to find love eventually pull her into glass house relationships with toxic partners who can’t complement the basics of her soul’s greatest needs. She ends up repeating these patterns. Throughout the film, Lopez muses about her life in the public eye and even delves into her childhood, taking us back to the Bronx and reconnecting with her younger self. But in conversations that feel like diary entries, we come across a universally forgiving thread that immerses the viewer into her message: the unyielding lack of love one might have for oneself. In this sense,This Is Me…Now: A Love Storyisa story about self-love, positioning us to understand that when you accept who you are without the noise, only then can you be open to loving someone else. It’s a deeply affecting message that tugs at your heartstrings.
The Supporting Cast Weakens ‘This Is Me…Now: A Love Story’
When it comes to creating a gripping visual album, the best kind can blur the lines between the music and its narrative for a more seamless experience. While Jennifer Lopez offers some very compelling voiceovers across enthralling visuals in 65 minutes,some parts ofThis Is Me… Now: A Love Storyfeel utterly fragmented and disconnect the ethos between the audience and the music. This mainly lies in the film’s supporting characters, like her therapist, her friends, and the very hollow Zodiac council led by an all-star cast. Is it fun seeingJane Fondashare the screen withPost MaloneandKeke Palmer? Of course — it’s a combo we never imagined. But it feels empty and unnecessary to Lopez’s already poignant message and songwriting.
While the council symbolizes the Greek chorus and all those who talk about your life with coworkers, friends, family, and in Lopez’s case, the media, it fails the singer in her music’s greatest messages. It becomes a distraction between the tender moments from a musical escapade toJay ShettyandTrevor Noahgiving commentary like it’s theSuper Bowl.Making these characters a big part of her film does a disservice to the music’s deeper messages and the amount of heart and soul she put into this project.Instead, the film would have benefitted from musical vignettes of instrumental interludes or voiceovers acting as diary entries moving into the next sequence. Because these segmented scenes are woven into the film, it feels awkward and doesn’t allow the audience time to digest the rousing visuals and poetic rhythms. Lopez meant well and perhaps this is her sense of humor chiming in with adding frivolity to the gravitas of her music and its messages, but she could have done without these characters, especially her six very obnoxious friends or the therapist who doesn’t do much else for her.
‘This Is Me…Now’ Plays Well With Its Visuals and Music
As a tale for hopeless romantics — the kind that believes in magic and can reciteThe Way We Wereover and over —This Is Me… Now: A Love Storydoes afantastical job of creating striking visuals that blend with Jennifer Lopez’s music. While it’s not as cohesive as it could be through a series of interconnected music videos, director David Meyers helps create a strong and profound experience that unfolds visually through symbolism. It’s thiscinematography of sprawling vistas and bright color palettesthat make the film feel epic and cinematic without compromising the music’s heart and emotion.Meyers’ vision helps heighten and tell her story through the lens of some very sharp imagery across steady camera moves and deliberate lighting that elevates the emotion. This clean and focused style is a big reason why the film could have done without its supporting cast as it alone feels picturesque and strong enough.
In this lush and bright world across absorbing elements, Lopez’s music is earnest and romantic. The raw, emotional depth in her lyrics juxtaposed with the visuals is highly complementary to understanding her. There is also a joy in watching Lopez dance.The choreography is aligned with her feelings and transcends the different styles of dance enchantingly.Blending stunning costumes and designs across visually captivating sets, there is a beautiful number near the end where she sings and dances in the rain,paying clear homage toGene Kelly. Watching her dance is a real point of passion and one we can see her having fun with, but it’s at this moment we feel her emotions create their own rhythm through her vulnerability.
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To watchThis Is Me…Now: A Love Storyis to admit Lopez’s ambitions as an artist stretches well beyond what people say about her. But even though the film acts as a manifesto of her creativity, not all of it works. While we accompany Lopez on a journey across 13 songs from heartbreak, emptiness, anger, and redemption,the film as a whole is not as organic as the music and visuals are. While those play great together, the rest feels obstructive. She creates barriers to those messages, which weaken her voice, whereas we can see through her music and dance are fiercely powerful, tender, and authentic.
The Prime Video film largely delivers on its promise of Jennifer Lopez’s evolution through song and dance.
This Is Me…Now: A Love Storyis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S. starting February 15.
