It’s all about location, location, location.

Originally I was going to talk about Tetris Effect, but instead I’m going to talk about Blinded By The Light, directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham, Bride & Prejudice). I feel like the easiest way to summarize the film is that you’ll laugh (a little), you’ll cry (a bunch), you’ll cringe (a lot). Based on a true story it revolves around a young Pakistani called Javed growing up in an English town hit hard by unemployment in the Thatcher era. A friend introduces him to Bruce Springsteen who speaks to his life conditions, and gives Javed a new outlook on life. When the film deals with racial tensions, working class worries, and family it’s on fire. When his father cries that he can’t afford to throw his daughter a good wedding cause he’s unemployed, you cry too. When Javed opens his mouth and quotes Springsteen at peoples faces, you cringe.

Something about how the semi-dream sequences don’t quite jell with reality, it ends up being just as awkward as if someone really was singing unaccompanied in a public square. I feel as though they either needed to crank these moments up to Glee levels somehow, or tone it all the way back.

When you come out of what could be described as a somewhat musical movie unenthused by the music, something has gone terribly wrong.

The movie feels like a nerd distilled into an MP4, maybe that’s just too close to home for me. It has so much heart though, so if you can get past the cheese and cringe, you’ll have a lovely time.