Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Through the years as biopics have only gotten more popular, we've seen a plethora of them, i.e. "Ray", "A Complete Unknown", "Get on Up", "Respect"--and these are just singers, not to mention the other biopics of famous people of all walks of life. But to add to that ever growing list, we are offered "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere".

This film chronicles the making of Bruce Springsteen's 1982 "Nebraska" album. Recorded on a 4-track recorder in Springsteen's New Jersey bedroom, the album marked a pivotal time in his life and is considered one of his most enduring works--a raw, haunted acoustic record populated by lost souls searching for a reason to believe. This follows Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) as he traverses some pitfalls in his life with his manager, Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) and his producer Chuck Plotkin (Marc Maron) behind him as he goes through a difficult time with creativity and along with that, depression. With his work buddy, Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser) and his semi girlfriend, Faye Romano (Odessa Young), his buddy Matt Delia (Harrison Sloan Gilbertson) and the persistent manager, Bruce seems to be holding fast until the floor bottoms out. 

Others to round out the cast are Stephen Graham as Douglas Springsteen, Bruce's father, Gaby Hoffman as Adele Springsteen, Bruce's mother, David Krumholtz as Al Teller, Matthew Anthony Pellicano Jr, as young Bruce Springsteen and Jayne Houdyshell as Viv. 

This was directed with pathos along with an abundance of reality by Scott Cooper ("Crazy Heart" '09, "Out of the Furnace" '13, "Black Mass" '15, "Hostiles" '17, "Antlers" '21"The Pale Blue Eye" '22) plus TV. Certainly, by this filmmaker's resume, he stays to what he does best, and that's drama, and more to the point, fairly intense dramas. He doesn't branch out, but considering his expertise in the film work he has and is doing, I can definitely understand. His characters simply jump off the screen with his incredible staging and pacing. It was also penned well by Scott Cooper ("For Sale by Owner" '09, "Crazy Heart" '09, "Out of the Furnace" '13, "Hostiles" '17, "Antlers" '21, "The Pale Blue Eye" '22), based on the book by Warren Zanes. As with many other directors where they have a tendency to write and direct their films, this is definitely a film that Cooper has by the reins in that he can choose how this story is to be aligned. His work is traditionally written with a tight, well sequenced format, however, this seemingly had a difficult time 'finding' the film, but once it unfolded further into the film, the story became clearer and more defining. And for this reason, it seemed a little long, but only because of a difficult beginning. As aforementioned, once this story continued, it became more interesting and intriguing whereas the cohesiveness and conciseness improved dramatically. 

Certainly if you like biopics, you'll love this. The format is something you've certainly seen before, but it's direction and acting, especially by Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong is amazing. Both could be up for potential Oscar nods come that time. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                     Rated: PG-13                                 120mins.