Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me

In 2009, Gomez sang, "Tell Me Something I Don't Know"; in 2022, the singer makes good on that promise to her audience in this astonishingly raw documentary. The film opens with scenes of her as a 23-year-old preparing for a concert tour with laughter and jokes about costumes, but the rehearsal ends in buckets of tears, revealing insecurity, self-doubt, and anxiety on a level that will surprise her fans. Writer-director Alek Keshishian, known for making waves with Madonna: Truth or Dare, follows Gomez for six years, as she goes through major ups and downs that lead to not just personal growth, but also transformation.

Gomez opens up her diary to share her feelings of unworthiness with viewers, revelations that eventually shift to show a young woman realizing her value. But even though she does open up her diary, she's not an open book: Plenty of details remain private. (Fans hoping to get tea on Gomez' relationship with ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber won't just be disappointed, but they may also feel guilty for wanting to know more.) The film is really Gomez' search for purpose, and it appears she realized while filming the documentary that this was the platform to fulfill it. Gomez has always known she's a role model, and her generosity and kindness are evident throughout. But the film shows her discovering that those qualities -- plus her personal struggles -- can help create meaningful change. In revealing her diagnosis with bipolar disorder, how it affected her life, how she's managing it, and how she came to embrace her mental health as part of her wholeness, she's making herself into the poster child for "mental illness" in hopes that it will become "mental acceptance." For someone with anxiety, it's an act of courage. For parents with kids who are struggling, it's a godsend.