«Music of my life», the musical biopic too far

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

After Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, is yet another musical biopic, and probably one too many. Music of my life (Blended by the light) has the merit of not recounting the life of the artist in question—Bruce Springsteen—but rather that of one of his fans, a young Pakistani student in Thatcherite England of the 1980s. Unfortunately, due to an excess of naivety, this uniqueness becomes a weakness. Review.

British filmmaker Dexter Fletcher has produced two musical biographies that have caused a stir this year and last: Bohemian Rhapsody, which tells the story of Queen and its band leader Freddy Mercury, and Rocketman, centered with over kitsch and perhaps less talent on Elton John. From the UK, in autumn 2019, comes another musical biopic, this time from Gurinder Chada, whose origins are Indian. And that's important: the director's Indian origins were already evoked in her first film, A trip to Blackpool, released in 1993 and winner of the Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival. However, Pakistan, like India, emerged from the partition of the British colonial empire in India into two countries along religious lines.

In Blended by the light, foolishly renamed Music of my life For French-speaking audiences, we follow the daily life of Javed, a young student from Luton who feels suffocated by his Pakistani family. This small corner of the country is not immune to an unstable and depressing social climate. Community spirit is at its peak, and unemployment is beginning to make itself felt in a significant way. Outside, the young people skinheads Far-right extremists are urinating on the doors of immigrants’ homes, the rain is pouring down, the dogs howl. In Javed’s heart, too, it’s screaming. It’s screaming with anger—both at a father with an old-fashioned Pakistani mindset and at a society that doesn’t want him. It’s screaming with love for the pretty far-left activist Eliza. A friend then plays some Bruce Springsteen for him on his Walkman. Javed tells himself that Bruce is singing exactly what he’s feeling. He can be free.

This description of the film is hardly an exaggeration. And that is indeed the regret viewers may legitimately feel. Just because a story is simple—and that simplicity is beautiful—doesn’t mean we should settle for an artistic treatment that borders on silliness. For yes, the themes of struggling to assert oneself within one’s family and in society, of first romantic feelings, and of the comfort found in popular songs—themes explored in Music of my life, are universal and important. But that’s not enough to make a good movie. It also requires an original perspective—whether in its approach, its form, or its characters—something or several things to captivate and hold the viewer’s attention, to make them reflect on their own condition, laugh, or cry. Here, the clichés serve no purpose, and—worse still—the poorly crafted story turns out to be completely far-fetched overall. Best to avoid it, then.

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Photo credit: © Warner Bros. Entertainment