Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Charlie XCX, Olivia Rodrigo: over the past decade, there has been a boom in documentaries about female pop stars. These glossy, behind-the-scenes films promise to share an unfiltered and authentic look at “the real them”, often centred around a tour or the recording of a new album. The rich lineage of the music doc is well-documented, but it has recently become a lucrative tool, one that serves as promotional material and supplementary art in the same breath.
Jennifer Lopez is the latest star to release a film. After more than three decades in show business, Halftime feels like a more intriguing prospect than some of the recent concert tie-ins to feature J-Lo’s juniors. The film, directed by Amanda Micheli, focuses primarily on the run-up to Lopez’s performance at the 2020 Super Bowl and covers Lopez narrowly missing out on an Oscar nomination for her lauded performance in Lorene Scafaria’s 2019 film Hustlers. Lopez’s reasons for releasing a documentary are understandable: her three-decade career has been mired by professional and personal criticism. “For my whole life I’ve been battling to be seen, to be heard, to be taken seriously,” she says in Halftime.
