Jennifer and I just returned from a wonderful week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
In total we saw fourteen films, three documentaries and eleven feature films.
“Blinded by the Light” was one of our favorites. Fortunately, it was purchased by New Line Cinema for a reported $15 million, which means that it will likely reach a theater near you.
Gurinder Chadha, who brought us “Bend it like Beckham” directs. She is widely considered one of the UK’s finest filmmakers. This effort will solidify that position.
The film is based on the memoir “Greetings from Bury Park” by Sarfar Manzoor. He joined the director and Paul Meyeda Berges in writing the screenplay.
The setting is the small suburban town of Luton, outside London in 1987. Javed, a 16 year old Pakistani boy is played beautifully by Viveik Kalra. He is a bright kid who is carefully trying to navigate life amidst the pressures of high school and the blatant discrimination he encounters daily. Javed wants to be a writer, something his working class father does not understand or approve of, but he is encouraged by his teacher to pursue it.
It’s the age of cassette tapes and a Pakistani classmate loans him a tape to listen to and it happens to be “Born to Run” by “The Boss”. Javed’s life is forever transformed and he delves deeply into Springsteen’s body of work and finds new meaning in his pursuits.
The soundtrack is of course energetic and nostalgic and the ensemble cast make the most of it all. At times it feels like a musical. It’s a magical, feel good coming of age movie that will have you smiling for a good while after you leave the theater. Keep an eye out for it.
