Blinded by the Light (2019)

Film: Blinded by the Light (2019)
Stars: Viveik Kalra, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, Kulvinder Ghir, Nell Williams, Dean-Charles Chapman, Aaron Phagura
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

I have weirdly, despite having a mother who is a huge fan of them, never seen any of the films of Gurinder Chadha, whose pictures like Bend it Like Beckham and Bride & Prejudice were both hits in the early 2000's.  While Chadha's films have not enjoyed the same level of success with the pop culture zeitgeist since then, I finally was able to catch one of her movies recently while on vacation, as a mini-plex in a random town in Connecticut happened to be showing Blinded by the Light, the only acceptable choice for all members of my family after much debate.  The film showed me quite instantly the charm that Chadha's earlier films likely brought, but I left a bit flummoxed at how the movie had too many angles to really ground it as an undisputed crowdpleaser.

(Spoilers Ahead) In 1987, Javed Khan (Kalra) is a 16-year-old boy who feels lonely in northern England, an area disproportionately affected by the policies of Margaret Thatcher that ravaged the economies of northern England's manufacturing industry.  Khan's father (Ghir) is laid off about halfway through the film, and we see the toll it has on his family, forcing his wife to work from dawn-until-midnight sewing to make ends meet, as well as having all of his children give their checks to his father so the family can continue to have a house & food.  Javed has dreams of getting out of Luton, where he is attacked by members of the rising-National Front, who frequently treat Pakistani citizens with horrible racism, and finds solace in an unusual source: the music of Bruce Springsteen.  Springsteen's lyrics, despite the barriers of geography and race (pointed out quite often in the film), inspire the young Javed to go after his writing, the girl of his dreams, and to find some sort of compromise with his family so he can have the life he wants but still feel like he's respecting his family.

By far the most unique and interesting thing about the film is the way that the movie allows Javed to genuinely love Bruce Springsteen.  Most of the time when someone becomes obsessed with an artist in a film, they have to have some sort of cynicism attached to it, with at least some of the toxic aspects of "Stan" culture coming with it, but here we see simply Javed in love with a man who he feels speaks for him.  I thought this was beautiful, particularly for someone who just unabashedly loves certain films.  Even if you're not a fan of Springsteen's work (I'm not an ardent fan, though like almost everyone I certainly know most of his biggest hits), it's impossible not to adore the love that Javed brings to his attachment to "the Boss."  In an era where jukebox musicals feel a dime-a-dozen, this earnestness is refreshing, and more importantly, distinguishing.

But Chadha's film struggles in shoving all of the other elements of the story into the tale.  We have Javed's complicated relationship with Matt (Chapman), as well as his father, his search for a girlfriend, his struggles with his identity...these are all decent fodder for a movie, but it's too busy and frequently feels like it's getting short-shift.  Particularly when it comes to his relationship with Matt, this feels underwritten and almost totally unnecessary.  As a result, the movie is too busy, and clunky when it isn't focusing on Javed's own self-discoveery, repeating themes that are universal in the coming-of-age genre.  The film is about as close to a 2.5-star movie as I've gotten this year, both liking and disliking it in similar breaths, but Chadha chooses to indulge the saccharine nature of the film rather than the freeing uplift in the end, choosing to establish endings that the movie hasn't really earned or needed, and so I'm going with 2-stars, but don't confuse that with this not having something to lend it.  It's just distracted by too many tangents to be a proper crowdpleaser.