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Blinded by the Light

2019

Gurinder Chadha

Viveik Kalra, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, Kulvinder Ghir ...

6.2

2,138

Drama. Comedy In 1987 during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, a teenager learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen.

	Media	Author	Review
		Owen Gleiberman Variety	"Chadha's best movie since 'Bend It Like Beckham' (...) I dare say it’s a more incandescent ode to the life force of pop music than any film ever adapted from the work of Nick Hornby."
		John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"[It] is just as faithful to formula as 'Bend It Like Beckham' and just as reliant on its lead's likeability; here, newcomer Viveik Kalra radiates enough guileless enthusiasm to carry viewers past the film's rough patches."
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"Glorious and almost terminally pure (...) A film that feels as out of time as the music tastes of its 16-year-old protagonist. It exudes the earnestness of a Bollywood musical"
		Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly	"[It is] so deeply tender and heartfelt that it disarms even the most misanthropic critic’s instincts (...) Kalra embodies all that with so much grace and natural charisma that it’s hard to believe it’s his big screen debut"
		Steve Pond The Wrap	"You’ll likely be moved by a story that’s less about Bruce than it is about the way pop music can reverberate in our lives and fuel our dreams."
		Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Cynics won’t thrill to this feel-good movie based on a true story, but the uplift is there for those who need a rebuke to racism (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"A contrived and unconvincing coming of age tale (...) There’s something so constructed and suffocating about watching a tried and tested formula not working (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Tim Grierson Screendaily	"That’s 'Blinded By The Light’s' strategy in a nutshell, hinting at some of life’s more trying aspects but reassuring us with feel-good scenes and Bruce Springsteen’s rousing words and music."
		Clarisse Loughrey The Independent	"Utterly joyous (...) [Chadha] uses the language of comfort food cinema to explore the weighty issues of race and identity (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Kevin Maher The Times	"[Manzoor's autobiography is] more interesting, thought-provoking and layered than anything that ended up in this saccharine and grimly vanilla so-called adaptation (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Charlotte O'Sullivan London Evening Standard	"There's no resisting the charms of the Boss [Bruce Springsteen] (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Cain Noble-Davies FilmInk	"Part-musical, part-biopic, part-rom-com and all sheer bloody brilliance.
		Donald Clarke Irish Times	"One of summer’s most irresistibly entertaining films (...) Actors play delightfully off one another as every beat hits with resounding force (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Paul Whitington Irish Independent	"Slight but charming (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		James W. Anderson entertainment.ie	"There is such a gleeful admiration of the music you become swept away in it (...) Despite having more flaws than a Jenga tower, 'Blinded by the Light' works (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"
		Harry Guerin RTÉ	"Gurinder Chadha has given us another coming-of-age story to cherish (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

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