Befitting its title, “Beauty” starts off looking lovely, even if much of what happens in this tale of a black pop star signing a record deal will be ugly. Portrayed by Gracie Marie Bradley, Beauty stands in front of a microphone in a recording studio. This close-up image will repeat multiple times, defying timeline expectations by linking what will be with what is.
In this lyrical and melodious work, director Andrew Dosunmu and writer Lena Waithe mine lament and provoke the story of Whitney Houston. Consider “Beauty” as an elegy with an edge, touching on faith and finance, love and damnation.
Giancarlo Esposito plays Beauty’s evil father and Niecy Nash is her vocally demanding mother. Sharon Stone leans toward her Mephistophelean role as a record executive. “God was showing off a little bit when he created her,” she tells TV show host Irv Merlin (James Urbaniak). Any doubts about the film’s interests in religious self-righteousness and patriarchal cruelties are dispelled in a scene where Dad confronts Beauty’s brothers, Abel (Kyle Bary) and Cain (Micheal Ward).
Like Irv’s name, other coy gestures suggest proximity to the Houston saga as the biopic’s troubles wind down. However, the film remains intriguingly hidden. Will we hear Bella sing? Will she and her romantic friend Jasmine (Aleyse Shannon) finally “go there”? When the two dance to Force MD’s slow-paced gem “Tender Love,” it’s the romance, not the sex, that’s brought up close. Rather than an evasion, this feels like respect: the filmmakers who honor but don’t name what the royal star evoked so clearly here never acknowledged.
Beauty
Rated R for language and drug use. Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes. See on Netflix.
Source: www.nytimes.com