Beyond the Lights: Fly, blackbird, fly, before fame clips your wings

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Her name is Noni Jean, which sounds like Norma Jean, who is Marilyn Monroe, who was swallowed by the fame and lost in the machine. You know how it goes: Goodbye Noni Jean.

Beyond the Lights stars the luminous and soulful Gugu Mbatha-Raw (star of 2013's Belle) as an almost-superstar British singer who is living the music-biz dream but has lost herself in the process. She's a product, not a person; a causality of her own success, and she's falling.

To her rescue comes a Los Angeles police officer: He sees her (if no one else can), and attempts to save her. At the L.A. hotel after Noni wins an award at a Billboard gala, one member of her entourage scoffs: "The cop thinks he's the bodyguard."

The Bodyguard. Whitney Houston will always love Kevin Costner, and aren't we suckers for the romantic narrative trope?

Gina Prince-Bythewood's Beyond the Lights is a formulaic, often melodramatic crowd-pleaser with thoughts on celebrity-driven culture and the ravenous appetite of fans, followers and the media. The film's prologue, which is set in 1998, touches on the paparazzi-related death of Princess Diana.

Also in 1998, we see young mixed-race Noni at a junior talent contest in working-class South London. She sings Nina Simone's Blackbird very capably, and finishes a respectable second place to a cute little hula-hoop specialist.

But second place isn't good enough for Noni's fierce single mother and demanding stage mom played with zeal and flared jawbones by Minnie Driver. "You wanna be a runner-up, or do you wanna be a winner," she asks her daughter roughly and rhetorically. Wow, how do you like them apples? Young Noni, who wishes to please her parent, cries and throws away the trophy.

There are few a themes running through Beyond the Lights. One has to do with parents and the dreams they hold for their children. Noni's mother devotes her life to her daughter's career, but she's also seeking a sort of redemption, with Noni's accomplishments standing in for her own lack of success. It's the same way with the handsome, upright police officer Kaz, played with strength, coolness and a notable torso by the impressive Nate Parker. His father (Danny Glover) has a plan for his son, which involves a police career leading to civic office. Kaz, like Noni, is a rising star with a parent attached to the ascent.

The romantic path of Kaz and Noni has its detours and false starts. As for their own paths, they both have something holding them back. Noni's is an insecurity in her own abilities: She does sexy R&B, wears revealing costumes and is reluctant to sing her own lyrics (which she hides in a shoebox of course).

Simone's Blackbird, a sorrowful ballad about restrictions and being caged in, is the film's soul and thread: "Blackbird, you ain't ever gonna fly." In Noni's case, it's metaphorical. With Kaz, it's literal – he's afraid to board an airplane. Pretty clunky writing there.

There are other clunky bits within a plot that seems familiar. "Congratulations, you're a bloody cliché," mom says to Noni in a particularly overwrought moment. A cynical critic might apply that to the film itself.

You'll have to watch Beyond the Lights to find out if the blackbird ever does get to fly, but there's a good chance you already have an idea. If nothing else, the film serves as a personal cautionary tale for the Barbadian bombshell and star singer Rihanna. As for Mbatha-Raw, she's got wings – no cages for her.