PG-13, 1h 57min, Comedy, Drama, Music
Now Playing
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of taking in a live show of the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making, earth-quaking, Viagra-taking, justifying, death-defying, legendary Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, you know that it’s an experience unlike none other. Springsteen opens a vein and bares his soul for almost four hours of joyus rock n’ roll. There’s nothing like it, so there’s little surprise he has amassed legions of committed fans over the years.
That includes mega-fan and co-writer Sarfraz Manzoor, whose life story this film is based on/inspired by. Manzoor grew up in Lyallpur, Pakistan before moving to Luton, Bedfordshire with his family. In 1987 during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, Javed (the character based on Manzoor) learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen.
Newcomer Viveik Kalra plays Javed, who struggles to fit in as neo-Nazi’s (known in Britan as the “National Front”) make their presence known in 1987 UK, marching in the streets, attacking synagogues, and spray-painting racial slurs directed toward Javed and his family. He wants to be a writer, but his Father forbids it, expecting Javed to go to a college close to home and get a practical job that will allow him to keep steady employment. His family even gives him a shirt and tie for his 16th birthday to help him with the job search.
His life is changed when his friend “Roops” (Aaron Phagura) places two Bruce Springsteen cassette tapes (what are those?) in front of him during lunch in the school cafeteria. They are Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “Born in the U.S.A.” The moment Javed pushes play on his Sony Walkman, his life is changed.
The next two hours are a love letter to not only Springsteen, but the era as well. The movie is earnest and funny. Anchoring the story to writer Manzoor’s real life experiences grounds it in reality and doesn’t allow the film to fall into the trap of being just about a specific artists’ music. In typical Hollywood fashion, the success of “Bohemian Rhapsody” has led every studio to green light any rock n’ roll or music biopic that comes across their desk. For fans of rock music (like me) that’s great, but it can get a bit exhausting with so many similar films released so close together. The focus of this film is on the characters and their journey with the music serving as the inspiration and soundtrack to their lives. Just how “The Boss” would want it.
The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha (“Bend It Like Beckham”), and she infuses the movie with spot-on casting, good energy and wonderful nods to the 80’s. The filmmaker delivers one of the best sing-along serenades since Tom Cruise sang “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” to Kelly McGillis in “Top Gun” with Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.”
The movie isn’t perfect, it ties up loose ends a bit too quickly and conveniently in certain parts, but the choice to make the father/son relationship the heart of the story was a wise one and delivers some of the best moments in the movie by not only Kalra, but the wonderful Kulvinder Ghir as his father, Malik.
You don’t have to be a massive Springsteen fan to enjoy this movie, but it would help if you want to tap your foot during the rock n’ roll segments. Director Chadha brings the lyrics alive through a relatable story and strong performances by her young cast.
“Talk about a dream
Try to make it real
You wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting
For a moment that just don’t come
Well don’t waste your time waiting.” (Badlands)
Bruuuuuuuuuuce.
—