Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
After completing a successful tour for 'The River,' Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) needed to regroup, so he headed back to his hometown in New Jersey. Feeling alone and depressed, he began reflecting on lost hope in America and began recording what would become 'Nebraska' in his rented house, the creative period illustrated in "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere."
Laura's Review: C+
Writer/director Scott Cooper ("Crazy Heart," "The Pale Blue Eye") follows in the footsteps of last year's "A Complete Unknown" by adapting a book about a very specific, and early, period in a musician's life, building a collection of music while engaging in a doomed love affair. But while "A Complete Unknown" featured an electric performance by Timothée Chalamet, Jeremy Allen White is saddled with portraying depression in a film that never really gets us into his head, the actor spending a large part of the run time staring off into space. The film's strongest assets are in supporting roles, Jeremy Strong's Jon Landau moving in his faith in Springsteen, and the black and white flashbacks that portray the man's troubling yet formative childhood.
1957 is where the film opens, establishing young Bruce as a child who fiercely loved his mother (Gaby Hoffman), who was in a seeming perpetual state of war with a blue collar father (Stephen Graham) who disappeared in drink, before a shock cut to the 1981 closing concert of his arena 'River' tour. He is immediately greeted backstage by a tearful Landau overcome with emotion, who has arranged the Colts Neck lakeside rental for his client to wind down. Back in Jersey, Bruce indulges in his first new car purchase, a Z28 and plays with a local band at The Stone Pony where he's hailed by childhood schoolmate Joey Romano (Jeff Adler), who introduces him to his sister Faye (Odessa Young). Springsteen is noncommittal when she suggests hanging out, but there is something in the air between them.
Allen White at least comes alive when acting with Strong and Young, but he and Cooper cannot make Springsteen's inspirations resonate. We see him read a paragraph of Flannery O'Connor and sit up straighter when 'Badlands' catches his attention on TV (it airs more than once, which seems odd for television of the period), scribbling 'Why?' urgently in a notebook. He looks up articles on Charlie Starkweather on microfiche and lies on the floor listening to Suicide, all pretty enervating stuff. Better are flashbacks, like the one which inspired 'Mansion on a Hill,' memories of time spent with his father. Then, presumably armed with material, he gets his guitar tech Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser) to buy a TEAC 4-track cassette recorder and sets up a studio in his bedroom.
The remainder of the film establishes what appears to be a deep and true relationship with Faye, Bruce paternal to her young daughter, only to back off, only Faye's character offering any rationale for his behavior. The most true drama comes from Landau's crusade to honor Springsteen's wishes when 'Nebraska' fails to elicit what Bruce is going for when recorded with a band, Landau and engineer Chuck Plotkin (Marc Maron) figuring out how to make those homemade bedroom recordings sound good enough as Landau holds music exec Al Teller (David Krumholtz) at bay, holding firm with Springsteen's demands of no single, no promotion and no tour (the album would end up charting at #3 while the cuts Springsteen shelved, like 'Born in the U.S.A.,' would make his follow-up album a smash). Bruce's relationship with his dad also receives closure when he receives a panicked call from his mom, his parents having moved to California, and he recognizes what we can construe as similar mental health issues in his dad ('My treat, he's a good man,' says the bartender in the Chinese restaurant where the man finds his dad, something we need to take on faith given what we've seen). The film wraps with Springsteen leaving New Jersey, heading to California on a road trip with childhood buddy Matt Delia (Harrison Sloan Gilbertson), having a breakdown on the way, then arriving to the house he's bought and the help he needs, the latter once again orchestrated by Landau.
Allen White does a fairly credible job sounding like Springsteen while singing and physically capturing his gait. In addition to Strong's fine work, young Matthew Pellicano Jr. gives a haunting performance of the young Bruce with both Hoffman and Graham strong as his parents. Odessa Young is also notable as the Jersey diner waitress Bruce perhaps met too soon. Grace Gummer is largely wasted as Landau's wife. The production utilizes real locations, like The Stone Pony and boardwalk in Asbury Park, and NYC's Power Station recording studio with production designer Stefania Cella recreating Asbury Park's carousel. As the original Colts Neck rental had been modernized, an older home facing a lake was substituted.
"Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" may satisfy fans, but it should make those unfamiliar want to listen to 'Nebraska' and fails the test.
20th Century Studios releases "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" in theaters on 10/24/25.
