BET Films
Rewind Movie Review is a feature where I review a movie I haven’t yet reviewed, but I didn’t see in the theater. Today: Beyond the Lights.
I had heard a few good things about Beyond the Lights, including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. I’ve followed the career of British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw since the short-lived and troubled JJ Abrams spy show Undercovers, and I had usually found her quite impressive. After her turn in Belle, this is the second indie movie she’s been in with wide acclaim. So I had a decent feeling going into this one, although I was a bit concerned about the subject matter. An artist pushed by a hard parent who’s disillusioned with fame seemed like well-trodden ground. But my question was simple: Will a talented person elevate what seems to be a relatively simplistic story about fame and heartache? The answer? Sort of.
Beyond the Lights comes from writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood, previously known for The Secret Life of Bees. The movie is about young Noni Jean (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a talented R&B singer from the UK, new on the scene, who’s starting to explode. But it’s not simple, as it never is simple. Noni is the girlfriend of Kid Culprit (Machine Gun Kelly), an already famous rapper, although the lines between artifice and sincerity are blurring. She is constantly being pushed by her mother Macy (Minnie Driver) and Noni begins to feel that her life has no point. Noni almost dies but is saved at the last moment by a local cop, Kaz (Nate Parker), and suddenly the movie becomes a romance about perspectives.
Kaz has his own ambitions and needs, and the new world of ultra-fame is bewildering and overwhelming to him. Noni has her own career to think of, despite desires of authenticity and love. The movie becomes a slow push of occasional dramatic scenes, frequent conversations about what “they really want,” and a lot of long shots of people relaxing and enjoying themselves on vacation. It’s hard to really be engrossed with the movie as it continues, because the story of Noni and her difficulties, cliched though it may be, becomes subsumed with a fairly average romantic tale. The good news is that the chemistry between the two leads is palpable, allowing you to care about them despite not really needing to care about the minutiae of the other subplots.
Those subplots are mixed in terms of interest; the political nonsense goes nowhere and is dull. The drama with the record company and Kid Culprit spike with intrigue and then mostly fall flat. It comes down to the same old points about “finding your true self” and abandoning the overbearing corporate influence. There’s a bit of compromise at times, but it’s a bit cut and dry. The message to me is about the power of love, which although nice, wasn’t especially earth-shattering. So the draw here is to watch the star of the movie perform beautifully on multiple levels, and if you like a classic romantic drama with all the associated cliches, that might work for you too.
Share this post
