TALENT, IMAGE START KICKS A CAREER IN POP MUSIC – At The Movies With Kasey
Back in the ’90s and early 2000s, I was a big fan of Behind the Music and E! True Hollywood Story. Like a lot of teenage girls, I was fascinated by celebrity, and a lot of the juicy gossip that seemed to go hand-in-hand with major talent. Even with that guilty pleasure in mind, I did not expect to be wowed by Beyond the Lights. Truthfully, I did not enjoy the first half of the film, which is bogged down by cliches and an overly-stylized, vapid picture of Hollywood life. The last third of the film, however, surprised me and made the awful journey of the beginning worth it.
Beyond the Lights tells the story of Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), an international R&B star, who was pushed into the spotlight by her Momager, Macy Jean (Minnie Driver). Although she’s talented and beautiful, Noni is painfully insecure and unhappy with the way she is shuffled from appearance to appearance without any control over her image or her music. Her depression drives her to a suicide attempt, which is stopped by Kaz (Nate Parker), a young cop who literally pulls her off the ledge. Naturally, a romance blossoms between Noni and Kaz, much to the consternation of Macy Jean and the concern of Kaz’s father, Captain Nicol (Danny Glover), who fears the starlet will tank his son’s political promise.
Although I would have much rather been seeing Rosewater, Homesman, or one of the other films in limited release in a theater not near me, Beyond the Lights ended up being an interesting take on the sexism and racism that often seems to dictate who succeeds in popular music and how they do so. The film sets out to critique the scrutiny and objectification many stars, particularly women, deal with and what the toll of celebrity can be. While some argue that by putting themselves in the public eye celebrities give up the right to privacy and surrender themselves to such scrutiny, this film puts pressure on those ideas and invites the audience to consider the gap between talent and image and how the production of the image that sells can choke out the talent that starts a career in the first place. A lot of this critique could be brushed off with a “well, duh,” by anyone who follows pop culture. Worse, a lot of the film undermines its own message through Noni’s relationship with Kaz. Ultimately, as Noni tries to escape the male fantasy she’s trapped in, she turns to another man to save her from it. Their early dating is depicted as Kaz watching Noni go through the motions of being a star, but this portrait just makes her a visual object to him too. It doesn’t quite work and it is all pretty shallow. But then the film flips the switch and Noni bottoms out, enabling her to take control of her image and her music, without the safety net of Macy and Kaz to make decisions for her. Ultimately, the film shows her healing and really using her voice. Only when we got to that part in the narrative did I feel like the trite parts of the first act started to work, as the extent to which Noni was just performing the role of the fantasy girl comes clear.
Although some of the characters are far more well-rounded than others, each of the lead actors really manages to bring intensity and nuance to their roles. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is captivating as Noni, especially in the later parts of the film, when she captures the transformation with depth. Oddly, Nate Parker’s character at times seems less realistic than Noni’s. Kaz is a little too good to be true, but Parker is charming and relatable. Minnie Driver and Danny Glover’s roles are meant to mirror each other, but as parents living vicariously through their children, neither is given much range. Glover perhaps fares better because his character is more sympathetic. Driver, however, manages to make Macy enough of an enigma to dodge being an outright stage mom caricature.
For a pretty rocky first act that develops into a more complicated and moving story, as well as for the strong performances, I rate Beyond the Lights 3.5/5 stars.
Beyond the Lights was written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. It runs 116 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sexual content including suggestive gestures, partial nudity, language and thematic elements.
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