Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
If you would like to get to the emotional tenor of Scott Cooper’s biopic of Bruce Springsteen, there is an 11 1/2 minute live performance of “The River” off of his and the E-Street Band’s “Live 1975-85” box set that captures “Deliver Me from Nowhere’s” narrative perfectly. That isn’t intended as a knock on Cooper’s film- which looks at the time period when Springsteen was working on his 1982 acoustic album, “Nebraska”- but my way of saying, Springsteen has been telling his story for decades; whether a biopic is necessary is a matter of opinion.
The first album I had that was my own was Springsteen’s iconic “Born in the U.S.A.,” and it’s still a beloved favorite of mine. Eventually, I worked backwards through his discography as he moved forwards. Like a lot of artists, you can look at his career through stages. I have some songs and albums I love more than others, but it is important to listen to the albums as a whole. Even his live albums tell a story, as do the compilations of outtakes and previously unreleased songs he’s made available over the years. He is a singular storyteller.
Cooper’s film is based on a book by Warren Zanes. The story picks up as the tour in support of his 1980 double album, “The River,” was ending. The record company wants to strike while the iron is hot. Bruce- played by “The Bear’s” Jeremy Allen White- doesn’t necessarily work that way, even when his manager/producer, Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong), tries to encourage him to. As he isolates himself in a rental home in New Jersey, and play gigs with local bands, he gets ideas for the new album, but they are not quite what has turned him into a hot artist in “Born to Run,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “The River.” He gets a multitrack recorded, and with an engineer friend, Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser), he records the songs that will make up “Nebraska,” as well as writes several songs that will be the backbone of “Born in the U.S.A.”. But something personally feels off with him. He’s deep into the process this time; can he find his way out?
One of “Deliver Me from Nowhere’s” saving graces is, like James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown,” it doesn’t try to make a “greatest hits” narrative out of The Boss’s life, a la “Bohemian Rhapsody.” By focusing in on a primary point in Springsteen’s life, we come to learn more about him as an individual, and the internal struggle of his creativity. Yes, we get glimpses of a live performance of “Born to Run,” as well as Bruce and the E-Street recording “Born in the U.S.A.”- the song- in the studio, but at its heart, this is a film about an artist pushing himself to the brink to get a particular set of emotions out. There are moments as we see Cooper’s recreation of the “Nebraska” sessions that reminded me of my own creative journeys as a composer. Breaking down a song to its basics. Finding perfection in imperfect situations and recordings. Having an emotion that requires getting out so much that it turns into an obsession. I think every artist has been there, at some point. And these are some of my favorite moments of this film.
Overall, Cooper gets fine work from his actors. When he’s trying not to mimic Springsteen’s performance style in the studio or in a live concert, White’s performance as The Boss is really strong. We see a man who is sure of the stories he is telling, and the way he wants them told when he realizes something works, but also someone whose past is vital to that storytelling, and sometimes comes out in deeply unexpected ways. We see his life with his parents in flashback, for the most part, and Stephen Graham and Gabby Hoffman do good work as characters who are seen mostly as spectres of a turbulent past. (Another reason to listen to “Live 1975-85”- he tells several personal stories on some of those tracks.) The other main performance in the film is Strong as Landau, and as is typical, Strong is great as a collaborator and friend who is confounded by Springsteen’s latest output, but wants to make sure he does right by it, as well. We do get one romantic interest in single mother Faye, and Odessa Young is good in personifying the type of long-remembered woman in Springsteen’s songs- someone who deserves more than just a difficult working class life, and better than what Springsteen can offer at this moment of time. Young and White have some sweet and heartbreaking moments.
While we hear most of the tracks on the soundtrack of “Deliver Me from Nowhere,” it’s worth listening to “Nebraska” in its entirety if you haven’t already. Widely considered one of his best albums- if not his best- there’s a stark beauty to the album that, stylistically, is extremely divergent from his work around it, but is also the purest distillation of his storytelling instincts and passions. Regular people. Flawed people. People looking for an escape. Some people who are trapped. It’s extraordinary work. And when Cooper leans into letting Springsteen’s songs vibe with the images he’s putting onscreen as a director, “Deliver Me from Nowhere” is a beautiful film that this Springsteen fan- who briefly met The Boss on his book tour in 2016, and saw him in concert in 2012- appreciated quite a bit.
