Hey everybody, welcome back to a brand new review of a film that’s been out for a good long while. Sorry about the delay, but I’ve seen a lot of movies and I am looking forward to discussing my thoughts with you guys starting with this Sundance favorite. I remeber seeing the trailer for Blinded By the Light in front of alot of the films I went to go see this movie, and it played very well to audiences leading me to believe it would be a surprise late Summer leggy sleeper hit, and the surprise success of Universals Yesterday, only made me even more confident. Boy, how wrong was I about it being hit as it bombed pretty hard on opening weekend, and wasn’t able to recover all that much with legs. This really shocked me because this film just screamed leggy crowd pleaser all over it, and I’m shocked it didn’t do better. It’s probably the most surprising bomb I’ve seen this summer, if not the whole year. What makes its failure even stranger is that it got very good reviews (better than Yesterday, and Bohemian Rhapsody’s reviews), with most saying it delivers on what it promises in good way. After seeing the movie I have to say that is a true statement, and lets take a look at one of the year’s criminally underseen flicks yet.
Taking place during the year 1987 (which as the opening credits show, is not turning out to be a fun year), and mainly set in the small town of Luton, England (or as our characters like to call it, a ****hole). Living in Luton, is a young adult named Javed Khan who lives with his Pakistani immigrant parents, Malik, and Noor, and two sisters, Yasmeen, and Shazia (the former of which is getting married), and is just starting a new school life. He tends to disagree with his parent’s strict beliefs, and values, and especially doesn’t seem to get along all too well with his father. Nevertheless he enjoys listening yo contemporary music (something his family doesn’t approve of too much), and like to write his own poets, and lyrics for his best friend, Matt’s, band, despite Matt himself often critiquing the songs for being very downbeat. His school life is not too different with him being treated like an outcast, in no small part thanks to his race, his socializing issues (his father forbid him from doing it all that much) and he has trouble expressing his true self. However things change when he meets a fellow student, Roops, who introduces him to the music of the “Boss” AKA Bruce Springsteen. Javed is more than a little skeptical of this man’s music, but once he starts to listen to the music, he begins to sense a connection with the “Boss” in a big way, in particular his themes about the working class, and yearning for a better life. It is here when Javed starts to find his voice, and finds the courage to finally speak up for himself. But with the racial tensions the neighborhood at an all time high, and his father’s study hard, and find a decent job ideals weighing him down, will Javed be able to run his own road in life his way?
So on the surface the story doesn’t seem like much, as it just sounds like your typical coming of age story about a lonely outsider tries to express his true feelings, and follow his own path while his parental figures are against it for their own reasons with all of the cliches that come with it. That may be my biggest problem with the movie, in that the story itself is pretty predictable, and goes in the direction you would expect. However just because on paper the story is not anything special, the execution of it is what really matters in the end, and luckily this flick succeeded in that regard. What really impressed me the most here was how it would deal with themes such as prejudice, economic struggles, discrimination, and xenophobia in a really thoughtful, and powerful manner and it is not afraid to show, or even delve into some of the more disturbing, or shocking things that people would say or do to Pakistani immigrants. I can’t say I’m too familiar with the works of Gurinder Chadha, I do know her films do tend to deal with these types of issues while exploring the struggles of young English Asians, and immigrants, and how they deal with their parents high expectations for them, while yearning to live their own lives, and I do like it when the movie takes the time to like at the family’s culture, and traditions. While not delivered in a very subtle manner it still quite resonated with me, and it makes you understand why the music of the “Boss” really connects with Javed. Oh, and speaking of that musical element, the script incorporates the music of Bruce Springsteen very well as it enforces the movie’s messages, and even does a good job of getting people (like myself) who aren’t too familiar with the man’s work really want to learn more about him. The story itself is still well told, and there are many powerful familial themes concerning how both parents, and their children must both accept, and appreciate where they both came from, and should support, and respect one another’s decisions, even there were some times where the film’s pacing dragged a little, and some of the subplots were more developed, and looked more into than others. Still just like this years Fighting with My Family, the story may not be new, but it is still told pretty darn well.
If you remember reading my review of Fighting with My Family, one of my criticisms with that (really good) flick was that there wasn’t anything too special about the directing or any interesting visual flourishes even if it was still a competently made movie. Here Chadha gives the movie a nice stylistic flair that makes this feel very cinematic with her use of very saturated colors, and fast paced montages which fit in well along with the more quieter character driven beats. The stand out scenes visually, are the easily the musical numbers which with have a lot of energy, and are occasionally visually inventive like when giant lyrics that resonate a lot with Javed appear on the screen. There’s also the production design, and costume designs which capture the 80’s London period piece setting very well (funny enough, by the trailers I thought it was going to be set in modern day). Heck to be honest this probably one of the most well directed, and best looking movies I’ve seen this year which is really saying something. But one thing that the WWE picture does slightly better is that the cast was a little better utilized there. Now don’t get the wrong idea because Viveik Kalra is great as Javed getting the characters introverted yet passionate, and kind personality just right and the character himself makes for a compelling, and relatable protagonist whom the audience wants to see succeed. He grows a lot of relationships in the film, but easily the most well realized is his relationship with his father Malik played by Kulvinder Ghir, who makes the character much more than just the strict father who thinks he knows whats best for his son, since as the film goes on they start to discover how similar their lives really are. Sadly the rest of Javed’s family like his sister, Shazia, played by Nikita Mehta, and his mother played by Meera Ganatra aren’t quite as well developed as the other two, and don’t get much screen time, but they each have some touching interactions with our central character. This pretty much applies to the supporting cast in general with many of them giving good performances even if some are given more attention to than others. The second biggest supporting player with the most to do aside from Malik is Nell Williams as student activist, Eliza, who makes for a solid love interest to Javed who frankly doesn’t care about his heritage, and likes him as a person, and has her moments. Then there is Javeed’s friend Matt, played by Dean Charles Chapman who leads a band, and the one who introduces him to the music of the “Boss”, Roops, played by Aaron Phagura, and Haley Atwell as Javed’s English teacher who all could have used a bit more screen time to flesh out both them, and their relationship with Javed even if the actors performing them do leave a good sized impression. But this is mainly Javed’s, and occasionally Malik’s story so naturally they would get a lot of the heavy lifting, and thankfully they do a pretty good job with carrying the film.
Man, I really wish this film got more attention from people than it actually did as Blinded by the Light is along with Fighting with my Family one of the most feel good inspirational movies of the year, and that’s a compliment (they would make an excellent double viewing together). It may be familiar in places, it can drag at times, and its supporting cast could have benefited with a little more to do, but the story is still well told, there are a number of powerful themes, and messages that will resonate strongly, the directing, and visuals are very inventive, the two major characters are handled extremely well, and of course the soundtrack fires on all cylinders. I’m baffled how this film was not a leggy crowdpleaser as it really should have been, and I hope more people will discover it when it hits home media. So if you haven’t already I highly recommend checking this one out, especially if your a Bruce Springsteen fan. But even if your not, I still think you will have a good time, and maybe even get a taste of kind of music the “Boss” does.
Rating: B+
Leave your thoughts down below in the comments, and see you guys later!
Review Time 