Blinded By The Light (2019)

[Quickbeam]

Went to the WI premiere last night. I'm from Jersey so a big Bruce fan. It's a very sweet movie, insightful of the Pakistani experience in England in the 1980's. A little over the top, kind of Bollywood style, although I realize that is Indian. Slavishly devoted to Springsteen which was fine for a fan driven movie. I liked it, may not be a mass crowd pleaser. The actor's who played the lead's parents were wonderful (and probably legends, I just don't know them).

[Browncoat]

I saw this this afternoon, and I really liked it a lot!  A bit of a pat ending -- probably did happen similarly, but surely his dad didn't come around that quickly.  I also loved the photographs at the end of the real people (plus Bruuuuuuce!).  Great use of the music with the montages (especially on their trip to NJ).  The whole wedding bit seemed at least partly lifted from Bend It Like Beckham.

The actors were all wonderful!  The guy who played Javed was so cute!  I loved his smile.  The guy playing Matt reminded me of Corey Feldman a bit, and Eliza is adorable.

It was interesting to see how minorities were treated in 1987, and knowing that some things haven't changed very much, sadly.

[WendyCR72]

I have yet to see this movie but have seen the commercials for it. I am rather surprised, as this seems to be some homage to Bruce Springsteen music in the lives of these people, that the title used is arguably more identified with another band that covered the song (Mannfred Mann) than Springsteen himself!

But then, that also seemed the case for "Because The Night" where Patti Smith is concerned, so...

A part of me wonders just how many - before this movie - knew the title song was originally by The Boss at all.

(Then again, some can argue that Bruce pulled the same feat on Tom Waits since it seems like Springsteen's version of "Jersey Girl" is more well known than Waits' original song.)

[choclatechip45]

I enjoyed it. I loved the music more than the story. 

[Ohiopirate02]

On 8/18/2019 at 1:50 AM, WendyCR72 said:

I have yet to see this movie but have seen the commercials for it. I am rather surprised, as this seems to be some homage to Bruce Springsteen music in the lives of these people, that the title used is arguably more identified with another band that covered the song (Mannfred Mann) than Springsteen himself!

But then, that also seemed the case for "Because The Night" where Patti Smith is concerned, so...

A part of me wonders just how many - before this movie - knew the title song was originally by The Boss at all.

(Then again, some can argue that Bruce pulled the same feat on Tom Waits since it seems like Springsteen's version of "Jersey Girl" is more well known than Waits' original song.)

I have to assume that Blinded by the Light is one of the filmmakers's favorites.  Personally, I find it to be one of his middling songs--the songs I will put on a playlist, listen to, but not belt out.  I haven't had the opportunity to see it yet, but I do wonder if another song or album title would have been better.  I will have to investigate.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 8/13/2019 at 7:31 AM, Quickbeam said:

A little over the top, kind of Bollywood style, although I realize that is Indian.

It took me a second, when the song-and-dance number started.  I thought, "Huh??"  And then, "Oh, Bollywood!"  I thought it was a nice touch.