Blinded by the Light (2019)

While the real life story of a young Pakistani first generation Brit finding his voice through listening to the music of Bruce Springsteen is crowd pleasing, the film with its clunky pacing and mostly simplistic story beats often feels rather dull. But director Gurinder Chadha find some powerful moments in a movie that would otherwise feel rather paint by numbers making it more inspiring than it would be.

There are a lot of relationships in this film which feel forced and cliche. They often aren't developed organically, instead the film relies of our assumptions to make the relationships work. Javed’s childhood best friend is never shown to be anything more than an accessory yet certain emotional beats rely on their connection. I never felt Javed’s romance was built in a believable way. And Hayley Atwell as his teacher is the prototypical inspiring teacher trope. Fortunately the film spends the time more on his connections to his parents and since this (rather formulaic) journey of clash between first generation child and his immigrant parents mostly works and is the heart of the film.

And if it was jus that Blinded by the Light might feel like a rather typical film in this genre. But what Chadha does that takes it just a bit higher is help make Javed’s experience of racism and rising racism in 80s Britain feel authentic and real. It is often in these moments that Chadha’s film comes together and delivers its best punches. Also she finds a way to help us feel Javed’s love of music in a way that is both cinematically beautiful but emotionally strong and, as with any music based film, the connection wth the songs is essential.

So while Blinded by the Light is fairly typical it does manage to offer something a it special.

Blinded by the Light 
Starring: Viveik Karla, Hayley Atwell
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Writers: Paul Mayeda Berges, Sarfraz Manzoor, Gurinder Chadha