Cast brings life to familiar Lights

There’s never been a shortage of behind-the-scenes showbiz melodramas in film history, but it has been a while since we’ve had a good one. So until the fourth version of A Star is Born hits the screen – to be directed by Clint Eastwood no less – we have Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Beyond the Lights, a film that manages to make a statement on the way women are treated and seen in today’s music industry despite telling an oft-told tale. The filmmaker, who also wrote the script, is helped greatly by the English actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, a talented young woman who impressed earlier this year in the period-drama Belle, and displaying an impressive range here, shows that she’s an on-screen force to be reckoned with.

Prince-Bythewood plants the seeds of her heroine Noni’s (Mbatha-Raw) dissatisfaction early on as we see her as a sweet 10-year-old who’s forced by her domineering, single mum Macy Jean (Minnie Driver, hissing and raving with relish) towards being a successful singer, whether she likes it or not. A solid effort and a second-place finish in a talent contest aren’t enough for this stage mother from hell, and it seems that even when her little girl grows into a certified pop star, she still isn’t pleased. On the cusp of true superstardom, Noni attempts suicide but is saved by Kaz (Nate Parker), a police officer that happens to be in the right place at the right time to save the day, thanks not so much to logic as a convenient set of circumstances in Prince-Bythewood’s script. Only in Hollywood, or rather, only in a Hollywood movie, would be more accurate.

While it would be tempting to say as far as the plot is concerned that there’s nothing new here, Prince-Bythewood does go out of her way to deliver some pointed commentary regarding the objectification of women in today’s pop music world. The most intriguing element in the film is Noni’s struggle to maintain her own identity, aware that the sexy image demanded by her mother and expected by her fans could consume her at any point and that the temptation to let this happen grows stronger and stronger as her star rises. The moment when she sheds her on-stage makeup and accessories to reveal the honest, young girl that still exists beneath the façade is a triumphant moment that one can hope young ladies in the audience will embrace and emulate.

The romantic relationship that develops between Noni and Kaz grounds the film and provides a welcome bit of solace for them and the audience (when they’re together, you know you won’t be assailed by the many music montages and routines that become tiresome), not simply because they’re both appealing but because they’re both dealing with many of the same problems. His father, Captain Nicol (Danny Glover), has a plan for his son to rise to the top of the LAPD and perhaps segue into politics as well. And while having the two principals on parallel narrative tracks may seem like a strategy from “Screenwriting 101,” the sincerity from the cast in bringing these parent/children dynamics to life helps us overlook this convention.

If the film has a fault it’s that it does overstay its welcome. Narrative economy is the strategy that should be adapted when covering such well-trodden ground as this film does. Prince-Bythewood has yet to learn the kind of cinematic shorthand that would help this tale pack a bit more of a punch. However, she does know how to write sympathetic characters and guide her cast towards creating human beings out of what could have come off as caricatures in lesser hands. Like a favorite band you’ve seen repeatedly in concert, Lights delivers more or less exactly what you expect; but that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t enjoy it.  

Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].