Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (12A)

In 1981, Bruce Springsteen completes his world tour to promote double album The River with two sweat-drenched concert dates in Cincinnati. Columbia Records executive Al Teller expects Bruce to capitalise on his rising fame with a new LP of singles to rival top 10 hit Hungry Heart. Instead, the physically exhausted singer-songwriter returns to his hometown of Colts Neck, New Jersey and exorcises demons on more than a dozen tracks captured on a four-track recorder in his bedroom.

LondonNet Film Review

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (12A) Film Review from LondonNet

>Writer-director Scott Cooper shepherded Jeff Bridges to an Oscar with his directorial debut Crazy Heart. He revisits the Sturm und Drang of the music industry with a biographical drama about Bruce Springsteen, intensely focused on a two-year period when The Boss frustrated his record label by concentrating on a low-fi passion project. Based on Warren Zanes’ book, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere plunges headfirst into the singer’s ferocious tussle with anxiety and depression rooted in childhood trauma…

Black and white flashbacks to childhood in New Jersey offer unsettling glimpses at the strained relationship between eight-year-old Bruce (Matthew Anthony Pellicano), his bullying, alcoholic father Dutch (Stephen Graham) and placative mother Adele (Gaby Hoffmann). Jeremy Allen White, multi-award-winning star of The Bear, recorded his own versions of Springsteen’s hits including a thrilling rendition of Born To Run to sensitively portray The Boss at a critical juncture in his personal journey. His electrifying performance elevates Cooper’s introspective and affecting picture.

A topsy-turvy fledgling romance with single mother Faye Romano (Odessa Young), invented for the film, is given short dramatic shrift and consequently feels surplus to requirements. Indeed, the most compelling relationship is between Bruce and manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong), who vociferously protects the star from a record label that values commercial viability over creative excellence. When Jon asserts, “You got to feed the machine”, Bruce tenderly counters, “That’s not us, Jon”.

In 1981, Bruce Springsteen (White) completes his world tour to promote double album The River with two sweat-drenched concert dates in Cincinnati. Columbia Records executive Al Teller (David Krumholtz) expects Bruce to capitalise on his rising fame with a new LP of singles to rival top 10 hit Hungry Heart. Instead, the physically exhausted singer-songwriter returns to his hometown of Colts Neck, New Jersey and exorcises demons on more than a dozen tracks captured on a four-track recorder in his bedroom. Bruce tells his manager that he is “trying to find some real in all the noise”.

Ten songs from the homemade cassette are chosen for new LP Nebraska and Bruce insists it should be released as originally recorded, imperfections et al. Standout track Born In The USA, which Bruce rerecords in the studio with his band, is temporarily sidelined to Al’s mounting despair. He fears his golden goose is poised to lay a cracked egg that no one will buy.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is a compelling portrait of a tortured artist in the throes of a mental health crisis. White’s sensational gruff-voiced performance steadfastly sidesteps mimicry and shines a light on the emotional rawness and vulnerability that have become an intrinsic part of Springsteen’s brand. Concert sequences up the tempo but for prolonged periods of its two-hour run time, Cooper’s picture is born to walk, with a swagger, not run.

– Jo Planter