Blinded by the Light: Bruce Springsteen Approved

Can music offer inspiration?

Blinded by the Light arrived November 19. It’s on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital. The Digital format appeared early on October 22

THE BOSS

Blinded by the Light’s noteworthy selling point is a large chunk of the story features Bruce Springsteen music and lyrics. (The Bruce cassette starts to play around 25 minutes into the 118-minute movie.) Springsteen, himself, approved from the very beginning, the use of his music. Which, apparently, is something he rarely does for a lot of projects.

The Rotten Tomatoes number jumped high with 89%. The figure makes Blinded by the Light a ‘Certified Fresh’ production. On the downside, the movie flew under-the-radar for its summer 2019 release. The film only ticked slightly over $17 million worldwide.

One theory for the low box office result was, perhaps, it's release came mere weeks after Yesterday, a film which featured The Beatles music, and fared out with around $145 million worldwide. Maybe audiences felt tired of the ‘jukebox musical’ style. Maybe. (I had to Google ‘jukebox musical.’)    

Blinded by the Light is inspired by the true story, and based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir, ‘Greeting from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N’ Roll.’ Manzoor wrote the screenplay with Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges. Chadha was behind the camera as the director.

The cast included Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Ganatra, Nell Williams, Aaron Phagura, Hayley Atwell and Dean-Charles Chapen.

TAKE

Would I buy this film? Yes. Although…I probably wouldn’t rush to get it.

But, it was much more entertaining to watch than The Kitchen, from the previous post.

I can’t say I’m an expert on Bruce Springsteen and his music. I do like a handful of songs, for sure. But for anybody who is a bigger fan of his music, it is worthy of a viewing.

‘Baby, we were born to run’ became stuck in my mind for the rest of the night.

The story is about Javed (Viveik Kalra), a British-Pakistani-Muslim teen living in the town of Luton, England, in 1987. With racial divides and economic issues, like massive unemployment at the time, it doesn’t always mean there are friendly people around.

Javed writes poetry, songs and essays as an outlet, while he dreams of more. Javed also tries to deal with his strict, traditional father, who refuses to bend his views on just about anything. Be it parties, school, travel, etc.   

I suppose the coming-of-age PG-13 story will feel familiar. You may have an idea of how it will all end before you make it to the ending, too. It also feels a bit different with the focus on a British-Pakistani-Muslim family. And Bruce Springsteen’s music highlighted throughout is, of course, a rarity. Overall, it still makes an impression. 

Some of Bruce’s lyrics show up on the screen, to feature how Javed is feeling and connecting to them, which is an interesting directing technique. When Javed is introduced to the music of The Boss in the movie, he becomes obsessed. And slowly, his life and attitude towards life begin to change.

The Bruce Springsteen music may be the big draw for some. The story has more going on, too.

SPECIAL FEATURES OVERVIEW

The DVD only has the Memoir to Movie selection.

Memoir to Movie (6 minutes, 10 seconds)

- Director and writer Gurinder Chadra and author Sarfraz Manzoor discuss the book and there are changes from Manzoor’s life to add a bit more drama, but also not make it so personal. (Parent’s names are different, as it the main character of Javed.)

The Most Crazy Thing (6 minutes, 55 seconds)

- Gurinder and Sarfraz talk about Bruce Springsteen and how they managed to get his full blessing on the movie. (Springsteen even liked Sarfraz’s book. Which Sarfraz couldn’t believe.) It’s probably the most intriguing of the features.

Deleted Scenes and Extended Scenes (9 minutes, 48 seconds.)

- Mostly extension of scenes that are already in the movie. Maybe adds extra depth to characters, but also didn’t add much more to the final story. I thought, anyway.

Warner Brothers Home Entertainment

The Kitchen: Messy

Welcome to The Kitchen.

The Kitchen arrives on November 5. It’s on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.

The Digital format appeared early on October 22.

EXPECTATIONS

The Kitchen may have had higher expectations for the summer 2019 release.

Melissa McCarthy was riding the wave of her first-ever lead Oscar nomination from Can You Ever Forgive Me? But she also won a Razzie. For the worst performance in The Happytime Murders and Life of the Party.

(The stats show McCarthy has been hit and miss, the last few years. I didn’t mind Life of the Party. But one viewing felt like enough. The Happytime Murders I haven’t watched.)

The Kitchen cast is rounded it out with many familiar faces. Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss are the other two female leads.

Domhail Gleeson, James Badge Dale, Brian d’Arcy James, Margo Martindale, Common (an Oscar winner), Bill Camp, Jeremy Bobb, E.J. Bonilla, Wayne Duvall and Annabella Sciorra, are in the rest of the ensemble.

Yet.

Not only did the movie struggle - but it bombed by many box office standards. It made just $15 million worldwide. The Rotten Tomatoes rating came in at a measly 22%.

The DC Vertigo comic book series created by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle is the inspiration for the movie. The screenplay was by Andrea Berloff, who was also the first-time director.

TAKE

Would I buy this film? No.

The curiosity factor may be the only worthwhile point of checking out the movie. I do not know the DC Vertigo comic book series, so I cannot make any proper comparison.

It’s 1978 in Hell’s Kitchen. Three men are sent to prison by the FBI. Of course, there are connections to the mob. So, three housewives enter the uncharted territory to fend for themselves. They decide to take the business into their own hands. They hope to make the community better with the mob duties, instead of only taking the money and disappearing. They can set their own way until their husbands return.

The film gets points for the 1970s feel and the soundtrack. The music was cool. Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain and Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas, as an example.

It’s an R-rated film, so it is violent and dark at times, and plenty of colourful language. 

Overall though, it doesn’t work for me. At 102-minutes it actually ended up feeling way too long. The pacing of the story came across jumbled for a crime film, that honestly, it was boring at times to watch.

I do like McCarthy, Haddish and Moss in general as actresses. They do well with the dramatic stuff. But, I never really cared much for them in this story.

For wives who were never involved in their husbands’ shady work. Yet, the three quickly challenge their mob competition, take to getting protection money, conduct negotiations, and are involved in murders and violence, and it all seems like surprising ease for them. The number of funerals becomes almost laughable, too, if it wasn’t meant to be a serious movie.       

It’s an impressive cast. The Kitchen felt like it could have been so much better, though.

SPECIAL FEATURES OVERVIEW

Running Hell’s Kitchen (9 minutes, 1 second.)

- Discussion of the filming, the graphic novel/comic book, and how much women were involved in the production.

Taking Over the Neighbourhood (5 minutes, 22 seconds.)

- Some history on Hell’s Kitchen, how they made the movie feel 1970’s New York with the clothes, store signs and even the garbage on the street.

Deleted scene (1 minute, 25 seconds.)

- The quick scene is between Tiffany Haddish and James Badge Dale - her husband in the film. Like four lines of dialogue. I can see why it was cut out.

Warner Brothers Entertainment