[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] The music docuseries Menudo: Eternally Younger was directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and Kristofer Ríos. See under for excerpts of a evaluate by Mark Blankenship (PrimeTimer), “Really helpful: ‘Menudo: Eternally Younger’ on HBO Max.”
Synopsis: A riveting four-part docuseries chronicling the untold story behind the rise and fall of Menudo, essentially the most iconic Latin American boy band in historical past.
Mark Blankenship writes: The story of Puerto Rico’s best pop machine will get a meaty music doc value savoring.
What’s Menudo: Eternally Younger About? The legendary Puerto Rican boy band Menudo pushed Spanish-language pop music to beforehand unimaginable success within the late 70s and early 80s. However whereas a worldwide viewers fell for them, the boys within the band endured stunning neglect and abuse, which a number of former members recall intimately.
Who’s concerned? The sequence is co-directed by Ángel Manuel Soto (Attraction Metropolis Kings) and Kristofer Ríos (Havana Skate Days). Soto was born in Puerto Rico, and within the episodes he directs alone, he brings eager perception to the financial forces that introduced hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans to america and thus set the stage for Menudo’s reputation in locations like Miami and New York Metropolis.
Although Ricky Martin, essentially the most well-known member, just isn’t concerned, many former Menudos sit down for susceptible conversations about their time within the group.
Why (and to whom) can we suggest it? For anybody who watches the perpetual stream of music docs, Menudo: Eternally Younger might be acquainted in each comforting and chilling methods.
On the comforting finish of the spectrum, this sequence is structured very similar to an episode of Behind the Music, taking us on a chronological journey from the early days of the Menudo undertaking to its international success and its eventual descent into scandal. The dramatic stress on this arc is as gratifying as ever, and if Soto and Ríos aren’t breaking new floor with their storytelling type, then they at the very least have an uncommonly fascinating topic.
For one factor, Menudo was explicitly conceived as a pop music model that was larger than its members. From the start, singers had been phased out in the event that they bought too previous (or troublesome) and changed with youthful children, and the sequence does a very good job articulating the financial advantages and emotional prices of this method. For an additional, Menudo conquered many components of the world by singing in Spanish, which was uncommon for pop stars on the time, and the sequence vibrantly demonstrates how significant this was to Spanish-speaking followers the world over.
Sadly, the again half of the present — when ex-Menudo members describe the bodily, verbal, and sexual abuse they suffered by the hands of their supervisor and his cronies — can also be acquainted. As the previous Menudos describe what they endured, there are apparent parallels to the revelations of abuse in docs like HBO’s Leaving Neverland and Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly, in addition to the monetary and emotional injustices detailed in Framing Britney Spears.
Although the sequence argues the legacy of Menudo continues to be overwhelmingly optimistic, it’s onerous to disregard that, as soon as once more, the story of beloved pop stars is shot by means of with struggling. [. . .]
Watch trailer right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8b3VB0vSqo
For full evaluate, see https://www.primetimer.com/really useful/menudo-forever-young
Additionally see, “Un revelador documental sobre Menudo llegará pronto al catálogo de HBO Max
Infobae,” June 11, 2022, at https://www.infobae.com/que-puedo-ver/2022/06/11/un-revelador-documental-sobre-menudo-llegara-pronto-al-catalogo-de-hbo-max