Blinded by the Light: Another Sing Street?

All you need to say is independent, British, feel-good dramedy and you’ve got me sold. That might be a bit of a more niche genre but it includes some of the most charming films of the 2000’s. Movies like Billy Elliot and Sing Street immediately come to mind and after the buzz around Sundance this year, it was exciting to think that we may be getting another story that fit that mold with Blinded by the Light. Director, Gurinder Chadha already proved herself in the genre with Bend it Like Beckham and the early reviews for this film seemed to promise she had done it once again.

Blinded by the Light, a coming of age story centered around music(in this case the songs of Bruce Springsteen), isn’t reinventing the wheel. It draws immediate comparisons to movies like Sing Street and in a way, that’s a point against it. The issue here isn’t making a familiar premise unique. A true story about a 16 year old British-Pakistani boy who uses the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen for solace is enough to accomplish that. The real problem is that you immediately draw comparisons with other really fantastic films. I had read that Blinded by the Light was like another Sing Street and that made me have some pretty high expectations which weren’t immediately met. 

Blinded by the Light is by no means the same movie but I think it’s fair to put it and Sing Street side-by-side. While the latter immediately sets itself up as the journey of a young, high school boy who starts a band to court a girl, the former meanders a bit at first. It’s not immediately apparent what the film is about. While there’s a lot of elements which are introduced, it takes a while for them to come together into something that feels cohesive. As our protagonist, Javed, begins to discover Springsteen’s music and use it as a vehicle for his own writing career, Blinded by the Light starts to take on a clearer path. However, it takes a while for that to happen.

Another thing that Sing Street focuses on from the get go which Blinded by the Light takes a while to introduce, is the central love story. It’s by no means a required element of a film like this but I’ve found that more often than not, a strong romance can really help boost the feel-good charm of this type of story. That seemed to be the case once again because as soon as the love interest gets introduced, Blinded by the Light really finds its groove. You start to care about the characters and their independent journeys. It’s the moment that I started getting that warm and fuzzy feeling inside that we all want out of these movies. Don’t lie… you know exactly what I’m talking about.

The one thing that Blinded by the Light does which Sing Street tries to shy away from is tackling some really poignant and serious issues. That’s especially true in terms of the socio-political aspects of each story. This movie confronts problems like racism, civil unrest, and unemployment head on and while Sing Street has some familial elements to it, Blinded by the Light heavily relies on being a family drama. Javed’s struggle to balance his aspirations of becoming a writer while staying true to his family provides some of the most memorable and vital elements of the film. His father’s reluctance to accept Javed’s dreams also contribute to that conflict. 

While the movie does get stronger the more and more all these elements start to come together, it still isn’t without its issues. While these are small gripes, Blinded by the Light definitely isn’t perfect. There’s a lot of surreal elements to the film(some of which include Springsteen’s lyrics being sprawled across the screen). In addition to some fantastical, musical set pieces, these aspects of the story don’t always work and often feel out of place. There’s also two main friendships with Javed that get explored that make the film come off as somewhat disjointed. At times, the movie completely forgets one for the other and while they both add to the story, I feel that they could’ve been integrated much better. Not to mention a confusing arc with one friend, who at first seems to be quite selfish but then gets portrayed in a positive light. My last little nitpick would be how overly timid Javed is at the opening of the film. It makes his quick transition to a more confident person far less believable and you doubt wether someone could really be that faint-hearted.

I know… that’s a lot of stuff without a clear consensus and that’s how I felt for a lot of the film. There was a lot of things being explored and I didn’t know what to think. I started this review off with a comparison to Sing Street and throughout its beginning, I became increasingly doubtful that Blinded by the Light would live up to that high bar. Luckily, with the introduction of the love story, things started to pick up and as the story went on, I grew more connected with each character to the point that by the end, I was completely charmed by Javed’s journey. It takes a while to find its footing but it eventually leads to a very memorable result. Put Blinded by the Light in the books as another worthy installment in the feel-good, British dramedy genre.