The story opens in 1998, with young Noni (played by India Jean-Jacques as a child and the great Gugu Mbatha-Raw as an adult) coming in second place at a talent contest after giving a haunting rendition of Nina Simone’s “Blackbird.” Noni is happy with her award, but her overwhelmed, driven mother (played by Minnie Driver with all the wild unpredictability of an exposed nerve) tells her to “chuck it” - it’s either all or nothing for her. Watching Beyond the Lights, it feels as if an old friend has reentered the room. As the ads remind us, she also gave us 2000’s unforgettable Love & Basketball - another rare romantic drama released in a sea of rom-coms and melodramas. This is Prince-Bythewood’s first film since 2008’s underrated The Secret Life of Bees. But how bracing today to have a film that’s at once fun, patient, romantic, and real. But how often do we see movies in which plausible people fall plausibly in love and face plausible challenges? And yes, I am about to use the word plausible to describe Gina Prince-Bythewood’s magnificent Beyond the Lights, which on its surface seems to be a candy-colored pop fantasy about the love between a beautiful hip-hop superstar and a hunky cop. Do we even make romantic dramas anymore? We make romantic comedies, and we make romantic melodramas - over-the-top, Sparksian wallows in tragedy, sure.
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