Review of Beyond the Lights (2014) by Manny C — 28 Nov 2014

It sounds made up of the worst contrivances: a stage mother from hell (Minnie Driver) pushes her pop star daughter (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) to the breaking point, so much so she attempts suicide by falling off a balcony just as her first album is about to drop. In pure Bodyguard style, an honest cop (Nate Parker) arrives just in tie to save her. To the shock of everyone, me included, all the cliched elements come together to create a remarkably enthralling love story that has the smarts to separate wit from schmaltz. Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who created similar magic with 2000's Love & Basketball, knows how to show off and just plain show. The smallest details ring true. After her auspicious beginning as a biracial tyke in a music competition---she does a heartbreaking rendition of Nina Simone's 'Blackbird'---Noni (Mbatha-Raw) builds up a career through packaging herself as a 'face-down, ass-up' diva. Mom accepts it so long as the exploiting is left to her. But it's Noni who balks at the idea of simulating S&M onstage with her white rapper lover (Colson 'Machine Gun Kelly' Baker). She wants her natural voice to shine through.

Prince-Bythewood is skillfully alert to how fame objectifies women. The amount of low self-esteem results in Noni's suicide attempt. Enter Kaz (Parker), an L.A. cop with ambitions for a political future, who talks her off the ledge. Their romance is no fairy tale. Her mother wants no part of him, and neither does his police officer father (Danny Glover). At times, Noni and Kaz can't see any future in one another.

Beyond The Lights has enough plot for a soap opera, but the actors rise above any attempt at cliche. Parker is a welcome charmer. Driver relishes the role, and Mbatha-Raw, stellar in this year's Belle, is dynamite. She nails the role, even the singing parts, with songs by The-Dream. Mbatha-Raw has been nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award, alongside the likes of Julianne Moore and Patricia Arquette. She deserves to be a bigger star. Beyond The Lights is a keeper of a drama. It packs a punch.