An ascendent R&B star attempts a lethal plummet only to be saved by a super fine — I mean empathic — police officer.
A savvy stage mom, a disappointed but supportive father and the hip-hop biz bedevil the singer and the cop’s romance in written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.
If you are lactose intolerant, you may want to forgo this drama. Because, yes, there is a mild hint of cheese to this wish-fulfillment saga.
But I’m a fan, a connoisseur, and writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s movie is a tasty pleasure — more Stilton than Kraft slices.
Brit actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw portrays Noni, the U.K. import with the fierce manager mom. Minnie Driver, no stranger to the hurdles of the music industry, has an impeccable edge as Noni’s mother, Macy.
“You wanna be a runner-up. Or you wanna be a winner?” she snaps at a young Noni (India Jean-Jacques) after a talent contest where the sweet kid sings Nina Simone’s heavy-duty
Noni’s biggest night in a young career — success at the BET Music Awards in L.A. — finds her dangling from a hotel balcony.
Her boyfriend, record- label mate and Eminem avatar Kid Culprit (rapper Machine Gun Kelly) has headed to his next gig. The only thing between Noni and the tabloid’s exploitative mourning headlines is officer Kaz Nicol.
Did she intend to leap? Was she just tipsy? The entertainment press has its theories. We know the girl’s hurting. So does Kaz.
Nate Parker is the police officer with the grip of life, a shelf full of political tomes, and a plan to run for office. Danny Glover plays the elder Nicol, a police department lifer with political ambitions for his son. Whatever is brewing between the cop and the singer isn’t part of the trajectory. Parents with dreams deferred is a theme here.
Mother love is in short supply. Kaz’s mom left his father awhile ago. Macy’s many things, but maternal isn’t one of them. Although a late showdown between Macy and Noni’s record- label execs holds out promise.
Director Prince-Bythewood, who made the move from television to the big-screen in 2000 with the terrific romance “Love and Basketball” has a way with actors. Parker is alluring and steady as Kaz. Driver is hard-bitten but not shaded.
You can add Noni to Mbatha-Raw’s terse but impressive filmography. Want a sense of her star-promising breadth? Watch this uncanny Rihanna/Beyoncé amalgam, then rent the sumptuous period piece about Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race niece of the British chief justice who heard the case that changed the slave trade.
Far more pop, “Beyond the Lights” comes with a couple of a moments that recall the trials of three sisters in the musical drama (the original) as well as Diana Ross’ more triumphal return to Chicago and Billy Dee Williams in But those stirrings are a pleasure. Prince-Bythewood herself gives a shout-out to “The Rose” and “Purple Rain.”
Still, the scene when Noni takes off the accoutrements of her increasingly constraining persona — the nails, the makeup, the weave — provides a unique, wonderful shock all its own.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bylisakennedy
