In 'Life Is But A Dream' Beyoncé looks flawless, reveals little

REVIEW - 'Life Is But A Dream' is a fun watch and enough to silence a few rumors. What it doesn’t do is provide any real insight into who Beyoncé is other than a great entertainer...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

Despite her casually messy hair and attire, Beyoncé still didn’t seem all that comfortable talking to Oprah, despite Oprah lauding her with praise for the documentary. Bey touched on the joys of motherhood, the pain of her miscarriage and predictably credited Jay-Z and the birth of her daughter with making her a better woman. It was about what any married celebrity would say. Her biggest reveal was about parting ways with her father, Mathew Knowles, as her manager, the nitty gritty details of which she still glossed over. Beyoncé said the split was because she wanted a father, not a manager, and didn’t mention his out of wedlock child or the alleged lawsuit where he was accused of stealing money from her. Beyonce’ did acknowledge that the separation had not fully mended their father-daughter relationship.

The documentary gave up a bit more, but not a lot. Despite the inclusion of allegedly never-meant-to-be-seen-by-the-public videos made on her trusty Mac, she still seems rehearsed as she explains her fears, but never really emotes. In between a lot of glossy footage of her stage performances, what we learn of Beyoncé over 90 minutes is occasionally she swears and can quote Darius Lovehall from Love Jones. She is always flawless, even under stress and all of her problems work themselves out. Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z, who is only briefly on screen, actually do have intimate moments, like bonding over a tipsy duet of Coldplay’s “Yellow”. In case you missed the picture of her daughter on her Instagram page, the film showed Blue Ivy, who looks just like Jay-Z. Bey “proves” she actually was pregnant by showcasing her “bump” at various angles.

Life is But a Dream is a fun watch and enough to silence a few rumors. What it doesn’t do is provide any real insight into who Beyoncé is other than a great entertainer who can actually give a decent interview when she’s in charge of the questions and is always performing even when her own cameras are rolling.

Demetria L. Lucas is the author of A Belle in Brooklyn: The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life (Atria), in stores now. Follow her on Twitter @abelleinbk

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