In “Beyond the Lights,” Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Noni, a gifted singer trapped inside the body of a pop confection who finally begins to burst at the seams. Her savior: Kaz (Nate Parker), a police officer who saves her life, and then encourages her to take control of her personal and professional choices.
Girl meets boy. Girl finds inner strength. Girl throws away whole career to start fresh, chase love. It’s conservative stuff at the core, but “Beyond the Lights” has a warm maturity, and also a slight tweak to convention that gives it shimmer. It’s a modern updating of “The Bodyguard” that’s extremely knowing about modern pop mores and manners, and also an old-fashioned love story with enemies – the music business, a domineering stage mother, a crude boyfriend – who are there for the express purpose of being vanquished.
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In his review of the film for The Times, A. O. Scott called the film an “occasionally silly, frequently stirring romantic melodrama.” He comes to the Popcast this week to talk about what’s conservative about “Beyond the Lights” and what’s novel.
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A.O. Scott on ‘Beyond the Lights’
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