Beyond the Lights

Beyond the Lights makes unapologetically damning statements about the music industry’s treatment of women, yet it never feels preachy. It strikes a risky, though successful balancing act between being immensely entertaining as a musical feature and making dramatic, important statements about depression, self-worth and female empowerment.

This is feel-good populist entertainment at heart.

Melodrama is defined by exaggerated characters and events, as well as overt appeals to emotion, and Beyond The Lights fits that mold ably and comfortably. But beneath the shiny surface of music-video imagery and true-loveisms lie some provocative ideas and deep truths about how people relate on a private level vs. a public one.

Mbatha-Raw continues to be a true revelation in a role that could be not be any more different from her star turn in “Belle” this year.

Mbatha-Raw looks, sounds and moves like an A-lister. If "Belle" put the actress on Hollywood's radar, Beyond the Lights heralds her superstardom.

By rooting Noni's self-image issues in a controlling mother, the script provides the film with a tame, melodramatic structure that dulls the thorny matters of identity and expression at its center.

The people are pretty, the music scenes are well-staged (they're supposed to be crude and corny, right?) and we've needed a silly romance for a while now. But for all its hugs and kisses, the film refuses to embrace itself.

Rhianna meets morals! If you want to see what drove Britney Spears to her downward spiral and made Miley 'the Twerk' Cyrus an overnite sensation then this will suffice. Far from being an ethnic film, its a complicated romance that meets nite and day. All about growing the hell up.

Beyond the Lights wants to be this generation's The Bodyguard - that music-heavy romance between two unlikely people that may or may not be destined for greater love. It even has the potential to be better than that. With issues ranging from suicide to self-image, and from misogyny in rap to mixed-race relationships, and from paparazzi to politics, the film is positioned to go to greater depths in any of these areas in an effort to tell a better story. Instead, it prefers to wallow in shallow gloss of the imagery its own subject falls victim to.

Unlike the typical "Star is Born" framework, this film starts as the young singer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is already tormented by her fame. It's not a music industry plot at all, but a love drama about her attraction to a young cop (Nate Parker), who was assigned to protect her. Mbatha-Raw (best known as the black beauty in "Belle") takes on a very different role as this Rhiana-type sexy singer and she's completely compelling, not to mention she can sing! Parker has plenty of leading man charm (not to mention that body). The story starts with music biz glamor, but the slowly turns into a romance. Luckily, the actors handle it well, even as it deteriorates into predictable mush.

Could play well on MTV. I found it to be profoundly cheesy and clichéd when I saw it at TIFF. It had its moments with Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the lead role, but the glitz of fame doesn't look good on this movie.

Very unoriginal, predictable, empty, and without depth. Wasted time watching this movie. Doesn't show any real meaning of a love. It's a cheesy romantic story.