Blinded by the Light is a wayward tale of juvenile exuberance

Blinded By the Light hopes to compensate for its trudging narrative with a rollicking soundtrack and classic coming-of-age tale.

Hollywood is in love with the jukebox musical to a numbing effect in 2019. It’s as if any iconic artist with a bevy of hits to their name is fair game for a movie wherein every single song will be an earworm, whether you like it or not. Some of these movies work to blend music and narrative, like the Elton John biopic Rocketman, while others are just bad excuses to do covers of beloved songs, as is the case with Danny Boyle’s Yesterday.

Director Gurinder Chadha and her Bruce Springsteen musical Blinded by the Light are a bit of both, using a true story (though not a biopic on the singer himself) to mine from Springsteen’s musical catalog. When the music’s playing there’s certainly enough to make you “born to run” (I promise, that’s my own joke), but the narrative is far too generic to hold audience interest.

Javid Khan (Viveik Kalra) is a high schooler living in the small English town of Luton in 1987. He loves to write, but his Pakistani father has plans for Javid to better himself. As the growing racism against the Pakistanis in Thatcher’s England rages, Javid discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen, inspiring him to go on his own journey of self-discovery.

In 2002, Chadha delighted audiences with her soccer dramedy Bend It Like Beckham, about an Indian girl who loves soccer (futbol in England). Blinded by the Light follows the exact same narrative with few deviations. Like that feature, you have a teenager of color who loves something either praised or heavily identified as American, disapproving parents, a scene where a character needs to be in two places at once, and the ultimate resolution that leads to a happily ever after. But where Bend It Like Beckham did all that with a story that felt personal and authentic to the character, Javid’s tale feels as if it’s strictly in service to its needle drops.

Chadha uses music in a way that certainly reminds audiences of its power. When Javid first puts on the headphones and hears Springsteen’s words, they literally are typed out around his head, swirling and mimicking his own personal feelings. A key reason why Javid loves the performer is because, like him, Springsteen wrote for the disaffected (usually) man living in a set of circumstances he has no control over. In this case, England in 1987 is shown as one rife with hate, where neo-Nazis are allowed to openly march.

It’s odd, but Chadha, who is listed as a co-writer on the script, wants American audiences to see the racism element so pointedly, yet it’s laughable hearing Javid declare that “everything is better” in America. It’s as if the script is confused about where its time period begins and ends when mashed against making a broader statement about how things haven’t changed. Ironically, the movie is being advertised as being all about Javid’s trip to America to “see” Springsteen when that’s not the plot by a long shot.

The music is what keeps Blinded by the Light so, well, blinding. Chadha and cinematographer Ben Smithard come alive when the music is playing, creating genuine emotion and feeling from being reminded of how a piece of music affects you. As Javid and his friends walk the streets of Luton singing “Born to Run,” it’s a pure moment of freedom and catharsis.

The same can be said when he’s in a nightclub with his sister, as she dances to traditional Pakistani music he puts on his Walkman and plays Springsteen’s “Because the Night.” Not only does it show how music is universal — his sister’s music seamlessly blending with the American Springsteen — but it creates a completely new tone.

Unfortunately, the music’s jubilance or melancholy is where all the emotion is centered, and that doesn’t pay off during the rest of the movie. The film gets lost in making everything about Springsteen by the fact that Javid makes everything about Springsteen.

It’s not surprising that his friends and family find it obsessive as it becomes a taste creepy hearing Javid start quoting Springsteen lyrics with a straight face at every opportunity. It only works because Kalra makes his performance so eager and yearning. The audience can’t help but root for him because he’s just so sweet. He’s complemented by Aaron Phagura as his best friend Roops and Nell Williams as Eliza.

Blinded by the Light is certainly for hardcore Springsteen fans. It’s not quite a jukebox musical in that people are singing, and oftentimes it’s hard to hear any of the lyrics with the actors scream-singing over Springsteen himself. It would have been better to choose one or the other. But if you’re seeking a cutesy movie with some recognizable songs, this will do.

What did you think of Blinded by the Light? Share your thoughts in the comments below.