Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Director: Scott Cooper

Based on Warren Zanes book of the same name, it tells the story of Bruce Springsteen’s time writing the album Nebraska and the material that would become, Born in the USA. After a successful tour Springsteen’s (Jeremey Allen White) manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) rents him a home near Springsteen’s home town. In doing so he connects again with memories of a difficult childhood and comes face to face with his own mental health issues, which produces some of his greatest tracks, but comes at a heavy personal toll.

There is plenty in Deliver Me from Nowhere that should make it a better film but sadly it falls a little short and didn’t fully work for me.

It’s a film that tries to tell a difficult story, exploring the beginnings of what would become a life long battle with depression for Springsteen. And it is here, with touching melancholic storytelling, the film is at its best. It explores his relationship with his father (Stephen Graham) and mother (Gaby Hoffmann). It also looks at his challenges with building relationships, shown through a friendship with hometown girl Faye (Odessa Young) and her young daughter. And how this impacts his work and his life.

What works less well is the studio recording and business side of the story that doesn’t sit comfortably alongside the look at his life. It’s not helped by a sometimes clumsy script as it ticks off some music biopic tropes. And the longer the film goes on, the more prevalent this becomes, undoing the good work of exploring his life.

Deliver Me from Nowhere didn’t fully work for me. It’s at its best exploring Springsteen’s life and its influence on his music, which is warm and melancholic. But it is let down by the clumsy telling of the business behind the making of Nebraska, which often makes it feel like two separate films stitched together, badly. This is a pity, as it lets down the solid performances, and touching storytelling, especially in its first half. It’s a film that’s not a complete miss, but not the hit it could have been.