Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, 2025.
Written and Directed by Scott Cooper.
Starring Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, David Krumholtz, Gaby Hoffmann, Harrison Gilbertson, Grace Gummer, Marc Maron, Matthew Pellicano Jr., Jayne Houdyshell, Jeff Adler, Jimmy Iovine, Chris Jaymes Bartley Booz, Craig Geraghty, Laura Sametz, Vienna Barrus, Vivienne Barrus, and Arabella Olivia Clark.
SYNOPSIS:
Bruce Springsteen’s journey crafting his 1982 album Nebraska, which emerged as he recorded Born in the USA with the E Street Band.
Before it was eventually released, Bruce Springsteen decided to shelf one of his most popular recordings, Born in the USA. Played in writer/director Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere by Jeremy Allen White, that’s because “The Boss” (as everyone would come to call him) was deeply terrified at the prospect of becoming a full-blown famous household name. From a small town in New Jersey, that’s where he wanted to stay and retreat to following tours of a successful earlier album (which contained hits such as Born to Run), living with unprocessed trauma and debilitating depression at the expense of an unhappy upbringing involving daily domestic arguing between his parents, with a side of alcoholism from his father Douglas (Stephen Graham).
Bruce Springsteen was going to become world famous. No second-guessing was necessary, and it was obvious from everyone to the studio executives to his loyal manager Jon Landau (Jeremy strong) and even a comedic relief equipment assistant (the always welcome Paul Walter Hauser, who in some ways vicariously reflects the role of a fan watching this biopic). With that said, Bruce Springsteen made every possible choice he could to delay and perhaps even prevent this inevitability.
More concerned with working out his demons and tapping into a darker sonic mode, the musician started taking inspiration from equally bleak films such as Terrence Malick’s Badlands, his personal trauma, unresolved issues with his father, commended issues with a casual acquaintance that quickly turns into a more serious relationship (Odessa Young’s Faye, who sadly doesn’t have much to do here and plays the exact part one would expect; a divorcee with a child that eventually ends up heartbroken upon giving her trust), all while forgoing a rock ‘n’ roll sound in exchange for a bound to be divisive folk style.
And while this was a conscious creative choice, it also came across as insurance to ensure Bruce’s popularity didn’t further skyrocket. By this point in 1982, he was already fairly recognizable which only enabled him to retreat to his small town origins. It’s also fair to say that some of this was about unplugging from big-city touring life as much as it was holing up in a familiar area with plenty of unchecked personal baggage, but the fear of fame makes up another significant portion of Scott Cooper’s biopic, which is based on Warren Zanes’ novel.
This focus on the creation of one album defying public expectations while also trying to find a specific sound that’s essentially the opposite of overproduced in a recording studio, insistent upon transferring naked audio from a cassette tape into the record, is a welcome insider dynamic. Bruce adamant that this folk album would be stripped down in terms of production to the writing of the songs themselves that comes with a sense of truth, whereas similar musician biopic’s feel forced. Boosting this is that Jeremy Allen White is tremendous in the role, giving an authentic portrayal of depression and insecurity that is all over his body language. Even when bonding with Faye and her child, there is a well of uncertainty and pain underneath those ostensibly happy memories in the making. A final scene between him and his father serves as a moving emotional crescendo.
However, since every supporting character or side plot merely exists to serve the creations of songs on the Nebraska album, they feel shortchanged as people and not properly fleshed out. There isn’t anything to those other characters beyond surface value, which is naturally frustrating since the film is still technically dealing in tormented artist clichés. It is much more successful when sticking to following Bruce’s creative process. There also appears to be an entire third act missing, with the film randomly jumping ahead 10 months in time rather than showing a road to mental health healing. Aside from that previously mentioned scene with his father, there isn’t much of a payoff, which is mildly frustrating since the film is already emotionally distant throughout its running time.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere doesn’t achieve the greatness it was born for, but Jeremy Allen White’s pained performance elevates it a notch above mediocrity.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
