Blinded By The Light, a movie rated 88% by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, is a sweet-and-sour coming of age story of a young man named Javed. He is a Pakistani teen living in Luton, England who feels as though he is only what others see him as: an invader of their country, an outcast. When a fellow Pakistani student shares his Bruce Springsteen tapes, Javed feels like he has a personal connection to the struggles he writes about. When he hears Springsteen’s music, he falls for Springsteen and the relationship he has with music and life and makes connections between his daily life and the lyrics. He falls in love, makes a new friend, experiences conflict, finds his purpose in life, and breaks racial barriers. 

I found this movie exceptional. The plot is excellent, the use of montages is nice, and Javed’s friend Ravi is quite relatable, especially to boys. The use of lyrics and light play is exceptional, and the recurring themes of the various struggles of the modern world fill out Ravi’s universe and make it relevant to today. 

However, no movie is perfect, and Blinded By The Light is no exception. In some parts of the movie, the dialogue was hard to hear, and there were a few plot twists that felt like they came out of nowhere. The motivations of characters sometimes aren’t well established, and there were some fairly large time gaps between some scenes.

Despite the negatives, this movie was truly amazing. The plot, montages, protagonist, lyrics, light play, and themes come together to form a compelling movie.