Ever since the trailer of Jeremy Allen White singing the iconic “Born to Run” dropped, the internet has been buzzing about the latest music biopic from director Scott Cooper, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
While I’m not a Bruce Springsteen super-fan, I do enjoy his music, and I’m always fascinated by biopics about musicians. From A Complete Unknown to Elvis to Bohemian Rhapsody, Hollywood can’t seem to get enough of stories depicting the tortured artist. However, Deliver Me From Nowhere presents something unique.
The movie follows one formative year in Springsteen’s life as he writes his 1982 folk heartland album, Nebraska. Coming off the success of the legendary Born to Run album, Springsteen, played by Jeremy Allen White (The Bear, Shameless), returns to his home in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
White shows the audience the introspective musician struggling to find his identity and voice in music, even though Springsteen had already reached rockstar status in this period of his life. The movie puts a heavy focus on Springsteen’s buried trauma from his abusive, alcoholic father, played by Stephen Graham, coming to the surface.
White gives a solid performance, but I can’t help but notice how much of him I see, rather than Springsteen. Not that I expected him to go full Austin-Butler-Elvis mode, but I kept thinking of how similar White’s performance was to that of him in The Bear. However, White’s singing voice is almost identical to Springsteen’s, a feat that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
An interesting aspect of the movie is the absence of Springsteen performance scenes. The film features Springsteen actually playing his music in only a few scenes: in the studio, at home, and a brief snippet of him singing “Born to Run,” which is also shown in the trailer.
Biopics usually use performance scenes as the climax and selling point of the movie, but since it takes place over the course of less than two years, there’s not really a place for those types of scenes. It’s clear that Cooper had a vision to stay within the short time frame, regardless of whether it allowed for typical biopic conventions.
We flash between childhood memories of Springsteen and his parents, and the creation of Nebraska, which was primarily recorded in Springsteen’s home with raw acoustics and vocals, with no studio flair added. He insists that his home recordings be directly transferred to the record with no added elements, much to his studio label’s disapproval.
I noticed that, while the film aimed to offer a different type of biopic, it still relied on clichés. Springsteen argues with his producer, Jon Landau, about the musical direction of Nebraska and Springsteen’s insistence on zero press or marketing following its release.
The tension between producer and artist is a classic plotline in every music biopic, but that could just be because that’s how it goes in real life. All the while, Springsteen struggles to be emotionally available for his girlfriend, Faye.
I found these plotlines a bit tiresome, as the writing doesn’t allow the development of these relationships. With powerhouse actors Jeremy Strong and Odessa Young, it seems like there could’ve been more to say, yet they’re left underutilized as slightly two-dimensional characters.
Cooper wants to focus solely on Springsteen’s internal struggles and how they translate into his music — an apparently accurate depiction of events, as the real-life Springsteen was involved in the creation of the movie and gave his blessings to the cast and crew to portray his life on-screen.
While watching the film, you almost forget that this is a biopic. In an interview with Esquire, Cooper even says, “We’re making a film about us, a man who’s a neglected soul who just happens to be Bruce Springsteen, who’s repairing himself through music. I hope that five minutes into the movie, people forget that it’s about Bruce Springsteen.” This is a movie that doesn’t want to, or try to, portray rockstar Springsteen.
This idea represents a new direction for biopics, one that may or may not resonate with audiences. The movie was a solid watch, but not something I’d rewatch. It’s the type of movie you’d see with your parents, and say, “That was good,” but never talk about it again.
Currently, Deliver Me From Nowhere is struggling at the box office; however, the film remains in contention for potential Oscar nominations and is generating buzz for other award possibilities.
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