Music biopics are notoriously tricky to pull off because the stories of well-known musicians/bands tend to follow similar trajectories. Some — like the Amy Winehouse film Back to Black — have followed the discovery-to-star arc. Others, like the Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown, have kept the focus tighter to try to reveal something richer about a particular artist.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere takes the latter track, meeting up with Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) when he’s already an established star, finishing up his tour for his 1980 album, The River. Exhausted, he retreats to his New Jersey home, where he soon starts writing songs for what will become his next album, Nebraska, featuring stripped-down tunes that are a far cry from previous hits like “Born to Run” and “Hungry Heart.”
Working with producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) and guitar tech/friend Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser), Springsteen records songs in his bedroom with equipment that is purposefully not state-of-the-art. In his spare time, he also starts dating single mother Faye Romano (Odessa Young) while trying to fight off feelings of depression that affect how he views his music, his family, and the world around him.
Written and directed by Scott Cooper, and based on the book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes, the film comes off as kind of like the Nebraska of music biopics in that it has a variety of effective moments but also others that are head-scratching. As documented by Zanes and in the film, Springsteen wrote the songs for Nebraska and many of those for his most iconic album, Born in the U.S.A., at the same time, and the process of seeing them come to life is interesting if slightly mundane.
However, Cooper’s focus appears to be more on Springsteen’s mental state at the time, which often overshadows the music. Cooper brings in flashback scenes detailing Springsteen’s abusive father (Stephen Graham), which play well except when it comes to connecting his memories with how he’s currently acting. Too often it seems as if Springsteen is merely a stereotypical temperamental artist experiencing mood swings instead of something more complex.
It’s also unclear why Cooper created the fictional character of Faye, as her relationship with Springsteen never adds anything to his personal or musical story. The better relationship depicted in the film is the one Springsteen has with Landau, who serves as a guiding force and protector. In fact, a deeper dive into why Springsteen trusted him so much and why Landau was so devoted to him might have been warranted.
White doesn’t particularly resemble Springsteen in any way, but he still turns in a good performance, especially when he’s emulating his singing style. Strong once again shows his commitment to inhabiting a particular role, although he’s required to be much more subtle than in projects like Succession or The Apprentice. Graham, so good in the Netflix series Adolescence, also does well here in limited scenes.
Bruce Springsteen is an iconic musician whose impact on music history is obvious, but it’s difficult to connect with this particular story about his life. Much like Nebraska itself, Deliver Me from Nowhere is a less-than-crowd-pleasing film that will likely only appeal to hardcore Springsteen fans.
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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere opens in theaters on October 24.