Movie Reaction: Blinded by the Light

Formula: 1 / Yesterday

Discovering a new obsession is one of the great thrills in life. I run into it most often with podcasts. I'll find a new one that's so tailor-made for my interests or point of view that I can't help but listen to every episode from the beginning, sometimes for months. Recently, I had the idea for movie fantasy league. I had a great time obsessing over all the details of it in my head for months. A new toy, a new CD, a new relationship. There's nothing better. The problem is that it's yours and no one else's. I may love this new podcast, but no one else I know does. Or it's already old news for them. Or they don't like it the same amount. It's also hard to know which obsessions will take hold the longest and deepest. Growing up, my parents had no way of knowing that getting a TV in my room in the 5th grade would be more significant than getting my driver's license in high school. For all they knew, I'd love watching wrestling forever and Star Wars would just be a phase. To their credit, they humored me regardless, and thankfully, I stopped before I ever became a nuisance about one thing.

For Javed, the protagonist of Blinded by the Light, Bruce Springsteen is his latest obsession, and no one is ready for how hard it hits him. The movie is based on the life of co-screenwriter Sarfraz Manzoor (and his book of the same name). Javed is a British teen with Pakistani parents living in a small town in England in 1987. His family lives paycheck to paycheck even before his dad gets fired from his factory job. He deals with a lot of racism against his community. He's no good talking to girls. And, he can't even find relief at home as his British identity bumps up against his family's culture.

Then he finds Bruce Springsteen, and in a night, he's transformed. I won't say it hit him like a lightening bolt, but let's just say that the night when he discovers Springsteen, he's outside and there is a lot of lightning. Soon after that, he starts taking more chances. He shows his English teacher his poetry; he starts writing for the school paper; he asks the girl he likes out. Springsteen's lyrics speak directly too him and affect him profoundly.

The music is a bit of a Trojan Horse though. This movie is about more than being a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. It's about overcoming obstacles set by society, by family, and mostly by yourself. I had issues with the movie through most of the run time, but when it hits the last 15 minutes, I was welling up with tears until the end credits. The payoff of all the directions the story goes in is great. It's sort of the opposite of my issue with the movie Yesterday. That movie had a terrific high concept premise but struggled to tie it back into a human story. Blinded by the Light struggles more with the Springsteen of it all, then emotionally wallops you at the end.

Let me explain, so it doesn't just sound like I'm anti-Bruce Springsteen.

Have you ever played fantasy sports? I have. It's a lot of fun putting together my team and thrilling when I pull off a close victory. Here's the thing though. No one wants to hear me talk about my fantasy team. My experience with that isn't interesting to anyone else. Now, imagine that I wrote a movie about playing in a fantasy league for the first time, years after it was new and popular. In the movie, I include a bunch of scenes where I make crazy waiver-wire transactions with strangers cheering me on. And, anytime someone doesn't care about my fantasy team, I complain about it or talk about how wrong they are. Meanwhile, I include scenes where numerous people keep telling me how I am a talented and gifted writer who has a voice that the world needs to here. I keep getting all these grand opportunities because of my writing and I always credit it back to my love of my fantasy team. This movie would be annoying, right?

There's a wish fulfillment aspect to Blinded by the Light that exhausted me. It includes some token scenes where someone calls the lead character out for how much of a prick he's being, but they are sandwiched between too many scenes of random crowds singing along to Springsteen songs that he's listening to on his headphones and belting out or people telling him how great and talented his is. I had a hard time ever taking the protagonist's side.

Viveik Karla's performance is so winning that he often tricked me into liking Javed despite everything in the writing of him. I really like Dean-Charles Chapman as Javed's oldest friend. He finds real emotion in a character who could've just been an 80's fashion punchline. Nell Williams as the love interest and Aaron Phagura as the new friend who introduces Javed to Springsteen are more functional than interesting but are easily likable nonetheless. Kulvinder Ghir as Javed's father gives the best performance and has the best arc. And, I was pleasantly surprised to see Hayley Atwell, lovely as always, show up as Javed's teacher, who is given just enough detail to make an interesting character.

I went on much longer about what I didn't like about this movie only because that part is harder to explain. I enjoyed Blinded by the Light a lot. It made me appreciate Bruce Springsteen's music a little more. It tells a specific story about a place and time that I don't often get to see. It has a terrific cast. The film balances numerous story lines quite deftly, and the payoff when they all come together at the end is very effective. If the lead character doesn't bother you as much as he bothered me, then there's room to fall hard for this crowd-pleasing little movie.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend