Film Pick of the Week: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere - review by Yvette Huddleston
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere Disney+, review by Yvette Huddleston
In a similar way to the highly acclaimed Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, this filmic foray into the life of Bruce Springsteen focusses on a very specific moment in his career – and is all the better for it. There is always a danger with these kinds of movies that in attempting to present us with a portrait of the man behind the myth, the end result often somehow plays into the mythology. It’s a fine line to tread but both films manage to avoid cliché or hagiography.
The period portrayed here is immediately after Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) has finished the punishing tour schedule for his hugely successful fifth studio album The River. He is on the brink of global superstardom, but he is exhausted and burn-out is impacting his mental health. While Al Teller (David Krumholtz), the head of his record company Columbia Records, and his team want Springsteen to keep the momentum going, churn out a few more hits and get back on the road, the weary singer-songwriter has something else in mind.
He wants to hole up in a lakeside rental property back in a rural part of his native New Jersey and concentrate on writing new songs – just him and his guitar – and possibly meeting up with some of his old friends now and again. The songs he is writing are for a folk-influenced concept album, about as far away from the muscular, propulsive rock music he has hitherto been known for. His manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) is supportive and persuades the Columbia executives to indulge their star, reminding them that they have in their back pocket the single Born in the USA which is bound to be a hit.
Springsteen, struggling with depression, begins composing and is insistent on an ultra-stripped back acoustic sound, causing consternation all round – Teller’s horrified expression when Landau plays him the cassette tape the Boss has sent through is priceless. These are the songs for what would become Springsteen’s much-admired 1982 album Nebraska. Interlaced with these insights into Springsteen’s creative process and emotional anguish, are flashbacks to his traumatic childhood and difficult relationship with his violent alcoholic father (Stephen Graham).
For all the darkness (on the edge of town), there is also some light as Springsteen enjoys a brief romance with kind, smart, grounded local waitress Faye (Odessa Young). The film is compelling with some great musical sequences and a very fine central performance from White.