“I’m not trying to put my life in someone else’s hands.”          
“That’s funny. My whole life’s in someone else’s hands.”

From the outside, it seems like rising music superstar Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is living the dream life. She has had three number one hits with her partner/ boyfriend Kid Culprit (Richard MGK Colson), and her debut album is due to be released in just a few weeks. However, shortly after winning her Billboard Music Award, Noni goes back to her hotel room, gets drunk and almost falls off her balcony. She is saved by Kaz (Nate Parker), the police officer assigned as her bodyguard for the day. Noni and Kaz soon find themselves drawn to one another, but their parents don’t approve. Noni’s overbearing mother/manager Macy Jean (Minnie Driver) is concerned that this relationship will distract Noni from her career; and Kaz’s father/boss Captain Nicol (Danny Glover) is afraid that if Kaz is seen in public with this performer it would affect the political aspirations he has for his son.

At first glance, Beyond the Lights appears to be a love story between two young adults from very different socioeconomic worlds. However, there is a much deeper side to the film that is concerned with exploring the damaging effects the now-commonplace, highly-sexualized nature of the music business can have. Noni’s mother has been taking advantage of her daughter all her life, forcing her to do questionable things in the name of furthering her career. Noni’s love of music started when she first heard the song “Blackbird”. But when she sings that song and comes in second-place at a local talent show, her mother tells her to throw away her trophy, stating “You wanna be a runner-up, or you wanna be a winner?”

Over the 15 years since then, Noni has jotted down her own lyrics, but has been too afraid to speak for herself, just going with the flow and singing other people’s words. At photo shoots, she looks for her mother’s opinion when asked to strip down for half-naked photos, but Macy Jean happily encourages her daughter to wear skimpier outfits in order to sell more albums.

Noni is depressed, and is trapped in this purple-haired persona that doesn’t represent how she truly is. She sees a glimmer of love and hope in Kaz, her savior who talked her off the ledge. And with his love, she can learn to be and express who she really is.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw gives a wonderful, emotional performance, and has great on-screen chemistry with co-star Nate Parker. She plays both sides of her character well, and makes Noni’s transformation from the sexy performer to vulnerable songstress a believable one. Her singing and dancing is also quite impressive.

Minnie Driver also gives an excellent performance as Noni’s control-freak mother. She plays this role with subtle nuances that allows the viewer to feel that Macy Jean is redeemable—you get a good sense of her underlying pain and vulnerability, and the idea that she does truly love her daughter.

The musical performances are excellent—I particularly enjoyed the songs by Noni & Kid Culprit, but Noni/Mbatha-Raw also delivers a strong, emotional performance of Nina Simone’s “Blackbird”. And as end credits roll, Diane Warren’s Oscar-nominated “Grateful”, performed by Rita Ora, leaves the viewer in an uplifting, inspirational mood.

This Blu-ray release contains two cuts of the film—a director’s cut and the original theatrical version—but the run times only differ by 16 seconds. I’m not sure what is different between the two, but for the purposes of this review, I watched the director’s cut.

The Blu-ray presentation looks great. The film is shot with a mix of stationary cameras for performance sequences, and hand-held cameras for the rest. This helps add a documentary-like feeling to the film—like you are right there witnessing what is happening to these characters. The audio track captures all of the dialogue clearly, as well as the dynamic vocal performances and the atmosphere of the live venues.

The Blu-ray comes with an Ultraviolet Digital Copy of the theatrical cut of the film, and the disc contains an interesting behind-the-scenes commentary on the director’s cut from the writer/director, editor and choreographer. Other bonus features include some deleted scenes, 2 music videos, a behind-the-scenes with the cast/creators, and a tribute to the film’s boom mike operator who recently passed away.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:56:15 Theatrical, 1:56:31 Director’s Version)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 2/24/2018):

• UltraViolet Digital HD Copy redeemable via Flixster or Vudu
• Theatrical Cut Only

Extras:

• Audio Commentary (1:56:31)
  Writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood, cinematographer Tami Reiker and editor Terilyn Shroshire provide an interesting running commentary over the Director’s Version of the film. They provide a lot of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, discuss the process of making the film, and talk about the visual style and tone they wanted to achieve. They also spend a lot of time talking about the importance of getting real events, people, products and news outlets in the film to add to the level of authenticity.
• Deleted Scenes (6:05)
  Play All or select from “I’m Just Tired”, “I’ve Got This”, “This is Crazy”, “What’s Going On Nutty Professor?”, and “You Know You Like It”. The scenes can also be watched with audio commentary from filmmakers Gina Prince-Bythewood, Tami Reiker and Terilyn Shropshire, who provide some interesting insights on the purpose of each scene and why it ultimately wasn’t needed.
• Escape to Mexico 2.0 (1:53)
  Footage of Noni and Kaz relaxing and having fun in Mexico, set to the music.
• Changing the Conversation (4:58)
  The cast and creators talk about the four-year journey to get the film made. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Noni”), Nate Parker (“Kaz”), Danny Glover (“Captain Nicol”), Minnie Driver (“Macy Jean”) and Colson “MGK” Baker (“Kid Culprit”), writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood, producers Reggie Rock Bythewood, Amar’e Stoudemire and Stephanie Allain, and choreographer Laurieann Gibson.
• “Masterpiece” Music Video (3:24)
  Music video for “Masterpiece” performed by Noni and Kid Culprit.
• Gary Theard: Boom Man (4:28)
  The film’s creators talk about the importance of the boom operator and pay tribute to the recently-deceased Gary Theard, who worked on this film. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood, production sound mixer Willie Burton, and sound apprentice Larrina Ellison.
• Theatrical Trailer (1:46)
• Sneak Peek (12:54)
  Play All or select from trailers for “Black or White”, “The Best of Me”, “Hector and the Search For Happiness”, “Belle”, “Wild”, and “The Fault in Our Stars”.

Final Thoughts:

Beyond the Lights works well on several levels. It is a beautiful love story between two people from two different worlds, who learn to accept and be who they truly are. But is also an interesting look into the seedy underworld of the music industry, and the affects the overly-sexualized nature of the business has on those who are a part of it. The Blu-ray itself looks and sounds great, and contains a nice selection of bonus material as well as 2 different cuts of the film. This title is definitely worth checking out.