By George & Josh Bate
Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, Bob Dylan, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Robbie Williams, Bob Marley, and Elton John have all been the focus of biopics in recent years. It was only a matter of time before The Boss received a similar treatment.
From writer/director Scott Cooper, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere chronicles a year in the life of Bruce Springsteen (played by Jeremy Allen White) as he crafts his now-iconic 1982 album Nebraska. As he comes off a massive tour, Springsteen reckons with a difficult childhood that spurs him into recording one of his most enduring works.
Biopics of famous musicians fall into one of two categories: they either detail the lifespan of an artist or they hone in on a specific and important period of time in their life. Cooper’s film does the latter, subverting issues of glossing over too much that comes with the former. The decision to focus on Springsteen’s year-long development of Nebraska entails that Cooper engineer a far more solemn and contemplative biopic than recent efforts in the genre, many of which favored spectacle over substance, as the story takes place during a relatively quiet and still period of Springsteen’s life. Unfortunately, the film squanders opportunities to delve into the psyche of its star that its premise affords.
So much of the nearly two-hour runtime is dedicated to overly long scenes of White’s Springsteen testing out his innovative new music as he records it on amateur equipment in his New Jersey bedroom. One or two of these scenes would be serviceable, but Cooper opts to spend an unnecessary amount of time on scenes that trod along as White mumbles to himself, jots lines onto a piece of paper, and tries out different chords. When this isn’t happening, the film features black-and-white flashbacks to Springsteen’s troubled childhood, marked by a physically and psychologically abusive relationship with his father (played by Stephen Graham). The flashbacks, while well shot and acted, unfold routinely as there’s little on show that viewers haven’t already seen from countless other films about abusive parents. Collectively, the bifurcation between music development scenes and flashbacks renders the film sluggish and repetitive.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere says a whole lot but leaves far too much unspoken. Amidst Springsteen’s work on Nebraska, the biopic meanders along with countless nebulous conversations about Bruce’s struggles and the personal nature of his new music, but none of them truly tap into his inner-workings and allow the audience to genuinely empathize with our protagonist’s plight. We learn that Bruce struggles with his mental health and these new songs are his most personal work, and yet we never truly learn how or why. We’re told that he struggles and we’re told that these songs are important, but never do the innumerable conversations that encompass the film sufficiently explore these questions.
Throughout these conversations, Jeremy Allen White delivers a strong performance that doesn’t quite reach the immersive heights of other recent music biopic performances. White certainly replicates some of Springsteen’s more overt mannerisms and pronunciations and plays a character struggling with quiet, inner torment exceptionally well. However, seeing White as Springsteen never entirely works, possibly due to the dissimilarities in their appearances. There are very few moments in the film where suspension of disbelief is such that we truly see White as Springsteen. We see White deliver a strong performance, but not necessarily a strong portrayal of Springsteen.
The film finds greater success in scenes that feature Stephen Graham as Bruce’s father Douglas. Both flashbacks to Bruce’s childhood and scenes taking place in 1982 showcase the supreme talents of Graham, who elevates any film or series he features in. In a film that attempts, but largely fails to land, so many emotional beats, the moments with Bruce and his father stand out as being, by far, the most moving. A scene at the end, in particular, gut-wrenchingly portrays how adult children reconcile with abusive parents when they reach older age. It’s powerful, heartbreaking, and a reminder that Cooper is exceedingly capable of evoking strong emotion in his audience.
Such strong emotion fails to come about, however, in scenes that focus on Springsteen’s relationship with his friend and manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) and love interest Faye Romano (Odessa Young). While Springsteen and Landau’s brotherly bond is touching, the bare script limits White and Strong from adding much depth to the relationship. Meanwhile, the plot line following his romantic pursuits with Faye perplexingly fizzles out as the film skims over why their relationship didn’t work out before abandoning it entirely.
As meandering and frustrating as Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is, the film concludes rather effectively. A brief pivot to Springsteen’s depression sees the biopic finally dip its toes into something substantive for our lead, even if it is too little too late at this point. Those more familiar with Springsteen’s life and struggles prior to watching the film will get substantially more out of this ending and, more broadly speaking, the film itself. However, we suspect even the most fervent Springsteen fans will consider the film somewhat hollow and believe it fails to portray just why he is one of the greatest musical artists of all time and why Nebraska is one of his greatest works.
VERDICT: 5/10
The latest in the recent surge of music biopics, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere commendably focuses on a more solemn, quiet period in its titular star’s life, but squanders opportunities to delve into the psyche of Springsteen that its premise affords. Numerous overly long scenes of Springsteen developing his music are coupled with routine flashbacks of an abusive childhood, collectively fostering a sluggish and repetitive viewing experience. The biopic meanders along with countless nebulous conversations about Bruce’s struggles and the personal nature of his new music, but none of them truly tap into his inner-workings and effectively demonstrate why Bruce is specifically struggling and why this music is so important and personal to him. Jeremy Allen White delivers a strong performance that conveys Springsteen’s inner torment, but doesn’t quite reach the immersive heights of other recent music biopic performances. Stephen Graham, meanwhile, produces a gut-wrenching turn as Bruce’s father, especially in a powerful final scene that gives the film much needed heart. Threads involving Jeremy Strong as Bruce’s manager and Odessa Young as Bruce’s love interest fail to evoke the emotions of scenes with his father, with the latter in particular perplexingly fizzling out with little explanation. Despite a solid ending that finally dips its toes into something more substantive for our lead, it’s too little too late for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere at that point. Bruce Springsteen may be one of the greatest musical artists of all time and Nebraska may be his most enduring, contemplative work, but Cooper’s film fails to capture the spark and heart of what makes The Boss so extraordinary.