JASON EVANS' 100 WORD REVIEWS: Blinded By The Light

The famous French fashion designer Coco Chanel once said, “There is time for work and time for love. That leaves no other time.” Film critic Jason Evans agrees with that sentiment and, seeing as there is no time for anything else, he does not want you to waste your time reading long movie reviews. So, he has set out on a mission to tell you everything you need to know about movies in exactly 100 words (no more, no less). 

Here is his 100 word review of Blinded By The Light.

The premise: Javed (played by newcomer Viveik Kalra), is a misunderstood British-Pakistani teen living in 1987 England. Tough economic times have made many in his working class town turn against the immigrant community there. Things are no easier at home where his strict, workaholic father will never accept Javed’s love of poetry and writing. Javed feels like no one will ever understand him, until he discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen. In the Boss’ lyrics, he finds inspiration and courage to fight for a better life. The film is directed by Gurinder Chadha, who so deftly showed us working class, minority England in Bend It Like Beckham.

The 100 Words: With an easy-to-root-for main character and the music of The Boss lifting us up, Blinded By The Light soars at times… but it is also a bit of a slog at others. The film often sends its characters off to quite literally dance in the streets and loses narrative momentum when it does. Parts of the story feel overly forced and the ending resolution of Javed’s conflict with his father doesn’t really make sense. But, the film has many uplifting moments and doesn’t require its audience to think very much. Not a great film, but a decent, crowd pleasing distraction.