Disney / Buena Vista
Detailing Bruce Springsteen’s musical and mental journey while recording his 1982 album Nebraska, where the rising superstar isolated himself in a house near Colts Neck, New Jersey, and delved into the recording process with a stripped down approach, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere takes a somber and earnest approach to examining the creation of a deeply personal album.
Reckoning with his own past, The Boss revisits difficult memories of his abusive childhood as he writes and records what record company executives are expecting to be a hit album utilizing the momentum of Bruce’s sold out The River Tour, but the songwriter continues to struggle with the stubborn depression that sours his fame and is thoroughly embedded in his songwriting.
Jeremy Allen White portrays Springsteen with humanity and competence in much the same way he approaches any other role he takes on, cementing why he continues to be a popular choice for many projects.
The surrounding players also deliver competent performances that help to transport he audience back to 1981 and the events detailed in both Warren Zanes’ book Deliver Me From Nowhere as well as Springsteen’s autobiography Born to Run.
Biopics tend to follow a very standardized formula, providing audiences with a secure viewing experience that is often predictable, not only due to the subject matter already being known and usually heavily publicized as well, but also due to the structure of such films following a deeply formulaic narrative structure that seems to be the way all such dramatizations of the lives and times of the famous and infamous alike must be depicted.
With Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, writer and director Scott Cooper’s adaptation of Zanes’ book takes a look at a period in Springsteen’s life that commendably strays from the usual biopic formula by being heavily focused on the specifics of the recording process to such an extent that musicians in particular will likely find a lot to love here.
However, as much as Cooper’s unapologetic approach to detailing the recording process as accurately as he has chosen to do makes the film stand out, this is also what may alienate viewers who are not familiar with and perhaps not interested in sitting through a film that so exhaustively documents this process, meaning that your mileage with Springsteen: Deliver ME From Nowhere may vary greatly depending on what you are looking to get out of a biopic about one of the most influential and iconic songwriters in American history.
Extras include feature-length documentary.
Verdict: 6 out of 10.
