Beyond the Lights

My feelings on this are basically just like every other person who saw it. It does have some biting, realistic insight into just how cruel and harsh the entertainment industry is, but the romance and the narrative are quite predictable. I probably actually enjoyed it more than my rating, but it's just way too formulaic and it's a shame when it started off better and it could've just been something more. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is really the best thing about it, delivering her all and giving even her most cliché of scenes life and passion. She's very charismatic and has a very strong screen presence, I hope she gets more roles after this because she would certainly deserve it.

Movies about big stars who suffer a crisis of conscience are not exactly rare, but not exactly standard fare either. My fave is PURE COUNTRY with George Strait, and I reviewed it for the IMDb.

What is rare is taking that formula and mixing it into a rom-com. That involves a degree of daring on the part of the producers -- and, no coincidence, there are about a dozen individuals listed as producers in this film. That folks is courage in numbers.

Even the length is daring. The flick runs almost two hours and these days only the largest production companies have the nerve, or the dollars, to go to full length.

But, as I said, nerve is something this film has plenty of.

Does it pay off? If you want me to tell you this is a polished gem, sorry, it is anything but.

But if you are looking for something memorable and entertaining, you have come to the right place.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw -- a name that is hard to forget -- really works the part. Her performance raises this film far above the current IMDb rating. (She is helped by EXTRAORDINRY H&M,ie, hair & makeup, which in turn makes the transition from regular person to Rap Star all that much more startling).

Minnie Driver, usually a standout, is lost here. In fact, pretty much everyone plays second fiddle to Gugu Mbatha-Raw, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, that is precisely why I recommend the film.

"Do you want to be a runner up, or do you want to be a winner?"

Fifteen minutes into Beyond the Lights and I was about to dismiss Gina Prince- Bythewood's film as yet another formulaic celebrity romance trying to be this generation's The Bodyguard. But after the story and the characters were introduced, I realized there was much more to the simple premise. This is a character driven film and despite the familiar premise the movie is carried by the wonderful performances from the cast and their well written characters. Gina uses a familiar tale but manages to give each character their very own identity and that takes the story to unfamiliar dramatic territory avoiding the common clichés found in modern romance movies. Bythewood made an impact in 2000 with her feature film debut, Love & Basketball and she followed the success of that movie with The Secret Life of Bees. Beyond the Lights is her third feature film, and it made such an impact on me that I want to see her two previous movies now. It's not easy to find intelligent romantic films nowadays with strong performances, so that makes me appreciate Beyond the Lights all that more for avoiding cheap clichés and deciding to focus on the characters and giving them depth instead of simply trying to deliver cheesy lines and force romantic moments. Every character in this film could've very easily played a stereotype, but Gina avoids it by giving each one of them their own moment.

Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is a young and talented British R&B singer who is on the verge of becoming an international super star thanks to her collaborations with rapper Kid Culprit (Machine Gun Kelly) with whom she shares a relationship with. On the night in which they win an important music award for their hit single, Noni tries to commit suicide by jumping off from the hotel balcony, but she's saved by the police officer who was guarding her room. Kaz (Nate Parker) is an honest cop who is trying to make a difference in his community and is aspiring to be a politician by following the advice of his father, Captain Nicol (Danny Glover), a well respected man in the police force. After the balcony incident Noni's mother and agent, Macy Jean (Minnie Driver) downplays the suicide attempt by telling the media that her daughter was simply drunk and therefore almost fell over the balcony. Kaz isn't happy about having to lie to the media, but he is more concerned about Noni not trying to get help because it is evident that the pressure has gotten to her, and her mother isn't helping by downplaying the issue. He gets close to Noni, and it is evident that the two have chemistry, but she doesn't seem like a good fit for his political aspirations given the latest scandals she's been in and the sexy image she's selling. At the same time he realizes that this isn't who she really is and that her mother and recording label producers are simply creating her image and not allowing her to have her own voice. When he discovers who she truly is, the two become romantically involved and the plot takes off from there.

Minnie Driver's character could have easily been one dimensional playing this mean and controlling mom/manager, but Gina avoids those stereotypes and gives her more room to work with despite how easy it is to dislike her for turning her daughter into this sex symbol product. This is just one example of how Gina decides to direct this character driven film giving each one a voice of their own. Another director perhaps wouldn't of included those small moments or conversations where we get a sense of why the character behaves in such a way.

Nate Parker delivers a solid lead performance as this credible and likable young man who is trying to make a difference in his community, but it's Gugu who steals every scene she's in. At first she seems to be playing a similar character to Rihanna, but once she finds her own voice her character goes through an impressive transformation. She gives an explosive and emotional performance and wins everyone over with her wonderful voice. There is a scene where she sings a cappella in an outdoor bar in Mexico that is breathtaking and gripping at the same time. My only complaint is that the film does lose some of its steam towards the end of the movie, but the time spent with each one of these characters still made this a very enjoyable experience.

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With the low IMDb rating, pop culture and romance, I was thoroughly expecting overused tropes, bad acting, and marginal writing. What I got was the complete opposite. I am not a fan of pop culture or romance movies but somehow these characters became very real for me.

In particular, I am impressed with the director's discipline. There are so many overused tropes that could easily have dominated the screen time. Instead, she hits her points and moves on.

The supporting cast was particularly impressive for their sheer believability. Hollywood too often takes the liberty "it's only a movie" or "it's Hollywood, we can totally do whatever". Instead, they stayed true.

This movie will go in my Blu-Ray collection when it finally comes out. The subtleties are impressive and worth revisiting. This is the second movie with a primarily romantic focus to achieve that honor. The first is True Romance.

I was at the world premiere today at the Toronto International Film Festival and just wanted to say that I thought the movie was really excellent. Definitely on par with the director's other works. It very easily could have fallen into being a schmaltzy typical chick flick love story type of movie but it doesn't do that. It is a fairly predictable love story but the relationship between the 2 main characters is great and feels authentic and emotionally truthful. They had a pretty strong, palpable chemistry together. You could see a real attraction between the two on screen and only adds to the intensity. Minnie Driver was great as well as Noni's driving, determined mother and manager doing everything she could to make her daughter a star. Not really an Oscar movie but good solid directing and screenplay and really great acting performances particularly from Driver, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and (the extremely handsome and delicious) Nate Parker.