Film Review: ‘Beyond the Lights,’ Love Beyond the Limelight

Did you ever kill ants using a magnifying glass when you were a kid? Ever wonder how hot that spotlight Katy Perry and Lady Gaga live under is? Big fame’s not fun. Surviving the limelight’s heat is big work.
Mark Jackson
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Did you ever kill ants using a magnifying glass when you were a kid? Ever wonder how hot that spotlight Katy Perry and Lady Gaga live under is? Big fame’s not fun. Surviving the limelight’s heat is big work.

Charisma comes in three forms: sheer stunning looks, towering talent, and the “X-factor,” where inexplicably you can’t take your eyes off someone. Incessant staring can be due to stunning looks of course, but the X-factor is predominantly an inner quality. However, when you combine all three, you’ve got a bonafide star.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s got all three. A star is born. Actually, twice now. (“Belle” was the first.) That African name alone—try and forget it. See “Beyond the Lights,” and you'll not easily forget her face either. Or talent. Or inner special something.

Article Quote: 'Beyond the Lights,' Love Beyond the Limelight

So, a little British biracial girl named Noni Jean warbles Nina Simone’s “Blackbird” at a competition. She wins third runner-up.

Stage mom (a never-better Minnie Driver) yanks her daughter from the lineup and makes her trash her trophy. “You wanna be a winner or a runner-up?”

Cut to years later. Noni’s now a gyrating, twerking, riding-a-rapper’s-coattails gamine, who wins an R&B Billboard award, sort of like if Rihanna had duetted with Eminem before she hit the big-time.

We get the stereotypical misogynistic braggadocio music video, rapper sexual harassment courtesy of “Kid Culprit” (Machine Gun Kelly).

We see the interviews, the red carpet treatment, and the stereotypical Cristal-and-limos after-party excess, except that she tries to jump off the hotel balcony.

Nate Parker and Gugu Mbatha-Raw star in "Beyond The Lights." (Suzanne Tenner/Relativity Media)
Nate Parker and Gugu Mbatha-Raw star in "Beyond The Lights." Suzanne Tenner/Relativity Media
Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to film, he enjoys martial arts, motorcycles, rock-climbing, qigong, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by 20 years' experience as a New York professional actor. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook "How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World," available on iTunes, Audible, and YouTube. Mark is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
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