Springsteen and I

This entertaining documentary film concentrates on die hard Bruce Springsteen fans: they tell us why they love the Boss so much and what are the sources of their fanaticism. Intercalated with interviews to the fans, are segments of concerts of Bruce. Sometimes, the fans appear in the clips: in perhaps the best segment, a fan who is also an Elvis impersonator narrates the time he got to sing with the boss in a concert after writing on a placard "can the king sing with the boss", and sure enough, the film shows footage of that very funny episode. Another segments I enjoyed: 1) Bruce's impromptu gig with a street musician; 2) a pretty, articulate young Asian woman who works as a truck driver (!) speaks of her love for Bruce and how he talks for people like her in blue collar jobs who do the tough physical job in society; 3) a British fan tells the story of how he was able to get front row seats for a concert in Madison Square Garden; 4) a young Bruce on a concert early on his career (a career that is now more than 40 years old!!) singing folk very much in the style of Bob Dylan. This film is not just for Bruce fans, though surely they would enjoy it most.

Producer Ridley Scott and his company Scott Free productions made the crowd-sourced documentary 'Life in a Day' which comprised of video clips submitted by people around the world.

Springsteen & I follows a similar route as we see a selection of clips sent by Springsteen fans mixed with some concert footage of Bruce.

Of all the performers out there, Springsteen is a sensible choice. He is not the latest fad who will disappear after a few albums, or an old dinosaur living off past hits for years on end but someone still releasing new material, touring with new material. He has a worldwide fan base spanning a few decades.

Obviously Springsteen fans would appreciate this the most. The documentary stands and fall by the contributors and here some of it is lacking and rather dull. A bit too much of we love Bruce but little of any real substance.

Some of the best stories were for example the Philly Elvis who managed to get on stage and sing Elvis songs with Bruce or the guy who got dumped and managed to talk to Bruce and have his request played as well as a street busker who managed to get Bruce to sing with him. (Although rather a few famous singers end up singing with buskers these days as YouTube is full of those clips.)

There is one British contributor who states Bruce means love for his partner, because for her he endures listening to his music and going to his concerts which are by the way too long as far as he is concerned.

Another contributor also from Britain tells the story how he went to New York to see him in concert only to find he had tickets where the seats were right at the back of the stadium (I know how he feels as it's happened to me a few times) and then a mysterious man upgraded him to the best seats in the house (which has never happened to me.)

These stories were few and far between and you gather that some of the contributions were probably not that good.

1/15/18. If you love Bruce Springsteen, then this rockumentary is for you! A nice mix of fan love and concert footage meant to please fans of all stripes and sizes.

I watched this movie in Perth Australia and thoroughly enjoyed it. It gives a very personal account of the effect a singer/songwriter can have on people. The fact that these people are just 'run of the mill" adds great weight to the film.The switch between high resolution professional material and home movie works to bring this close to the viewer.

The power of this film is really in the extended material which was shown in the cinema but which is not included in the dload.

iTunes dload however doesn't have the extended material which was a great disappointment, Does anyone know where I can get this?

Yes I'm from NJ but no I was not a Springsteen fan until a friend dragged me to a concert at the Boston Garden during winter finals my first year of college. And that night was life- changing. I've seen him maybe 75 times since then, but never overseas. Only one show failed to amaze. I also have a life, I like other things, and I know that Bruce Springsteen like any other public figure is still just a guy. I don't think he's a god, or my God. But there is nothing like a Springsteen concert. It is transforming.

So I was really looking forward to this documentary. The first 20-30 minutes were excruciating and all I could think was, wait it out because it's cool to see London Calling on a huge screen. The shaky cell phone videos were headache and nausea inducing and I kept thinking, where was Ridley Scott when they were putting this together?

Then it got really good. I LOOOOOVED the couple where the guy doesn't like the music, he got funnier every time he opened his mouth. I loved the woman in Copenhagen. She was very real, she seemed like someone I'd like to know. And that's kind of the point of this film, I think -- how strangers can share an experience through music or art or any common interest. The guy who works at the stadium was really compelling. So articulate. When he said he was walking home after a concert and his girlfriend said, "At a certain point I felt like I was the only one there, that he was talking and singing directly to me," THAT is the magic of a Springsteen concert and his unique talent. The guy in Poland was profound, even though he said very little.

On the other hand, some of the people made me sad in their extremism.

Bruce himself wasn't really important to this film. It was nice that he met the people at the end but it didn't make or break the experience for me.

Overall it was like a really really good Kickstarter project on steroids. Clever, interesting, thought-provoking, very funny. And there's still magic in all the memories of all those Jersey summer nights caring only about the music for the moment.