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
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