Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

by Mike McGranaghan

You might reasonably expect a Bruce Springsteen biopic to be a joyous affair. The Boss has had a long, super-successful career bolstered by massive hits like “Born in the U.S.A.” and “Dancing in the Dark.” Instead, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is a somber affair. That’s because the film from writer/director Scott Cooper (Hostiles) is based on Warren Zane’s book that details a significant period of depression in Springsteen’s life – the period that drove him to make his 1982 acoustic album “Nebraska.” That may not sit well with viewers who want a typical, A Complete Unknown-style celebratory work, but it’s definitely an insightful look at how a major performer transforms pain into art.

As the story begins, Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) is coming off a massive tour. He’s feeling burned out and unnerved by his growing fame. For some time off, he moves into a rental home. That’s when the depression fully comes out. Inspired by a viewing of the 1973 motion picture Badlands, he begins writing darker, moodier songs, which he then records on inferior equipment. Those songs let out bits of the resentment he still feels toward his abusive alcoholic father (played by Stephen Graham in flashbacks) and he wants to release them with that unvarnished feel. Manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Scott) is tasked with convincing the record label to release the album despite no obvious radio hits.

A subplot details the Boss’s romance with single mother Faye Romano (The Damned’s Odessa Young), a woman who astutely diagnoses that he is afraid of loving someone.

Bruce Springsteen is one of those musicians who’s hard to capture onscreen. He lacks the outsized personality of Elvis, Elton John, or Freddy Mercury. Jeremy Allen White probably gets as close as possible, emphasizing his grumbly voice and taciturn offstage personality. And if he doesn’t really resemble the Boss, it’s made up for by his portrait of depression. White brings out the idea that writing the “Nebraska” songs is a form of self-exorcism from a man who knows no other way of working out his demons.

The actor gives an admirable performance, as does Jeremy Strong. He plays Landau as a ride-or-die believer in his client, always supporting Springsteen’s artistic desires even when they don’t make sense business-wise. One of the film’s best scenes finds him informing a record label exec (David Krumholtz) that “Nebraska” will not be polished up and, in fact, will be released as is, without a single, a tour, or any press. His matter-of-fact attitude sells Landau’s commitment.

Because it deals with depression, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is somewhat slowly paced at times. I won’t say it drags, although it does tell the story in a deliberate style. Cooper is not always the most subtle director, either. The flashbacks in particular are on the heavy-handed side. Be prepared for a lot of scenes with the Boss being miserably unhappy.

Despite that caveat, the movie did hold my attention by showing in detail how Springsteen gets himself back to good through the songwriting process. We don’t usually get this much precision in cinematic explorations of musical legends. Focus is typically reserved for the more outward ups and downs. Here, we get to watch a well-known figure fight to save himself through words and music. That insight proves to be sufficiently moving.

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