{"id":32045,"date":"2025-10-30T14:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=32045"},"modified":"2025-10-30T14:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:49:09","slug":"what-does-it-means-that-springsteen-deliver-me-from-nowhere-isnt-really-a-bio-pic-but-a-psych-examine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=32045","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Means That \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d Isn\u2019t Really A Bio Pic but A Psych Examine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Review by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film: \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Gaby Hoffman, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review by Brad Balfour <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kicking off with a rousing version of \u201cBorn To Run,\u201d \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d sets itself up initially as some kind of celebration. But as the film proceeds, with actor Jeremy Allen White\u2019s pout and brooding gaze, this feature about rock icon Bruce Springsteen comes off as something different than what\u2019s expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its New York debut at NYFF 63 \u2014 after premiering at Telluride to a positive reception \u2014 \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d joins the recent flurry of music-related films. Some have hit serious heights such as The Freddie Mercury-oriented \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d or Searchlight\u2019s Bob Dylan-focused \u201cA Complete Unknown,\u201d with the ever-charming Timothee Chalamet as its enigmatic star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d is not quite a biopic but something else. Darker and far more introspective, it stars White as The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, and focuses on only one period in his life, the time when he created the album \u201cNebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After having the massive hit \u201cHungry Heart\u201d \u2014 but before making his multi-platinum breakthrough album, \u201cBorn in the USA\u201d \u2014 this film covers his emotional state as he transitions into enduring super-stardom. He has just completed his massive tour for \u201cThe River.\u201d White\u2019s version of Bruce starts reflecting on his childhood after returning to New Jersey to hunker down and ponder his next steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In somewhat murky black-and-white flashbacks, the young Bruce and mother (Gaby Hoffman) deal with his alcoholic and abusive father (Stephen Graham). To find some respite, he goes to the Stone Pony, his local Asbury Park hometown bar, jamming with a blues band performing covers of roots-rock classics. Bruce meets a pretty single mother, Faye (Odessa Young), and they transition into a sexually charged affair, as he tries to return to pre-fame normalcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, Springsteen loves the music-making process and the live performing but the other trappings of success and fame, of being a powerhouse star, is a lot for Bruce to contend with. It\u2019s not an unfamiliar story \u2014 fame vs the creative process \u2014 but in Bruce\u2019s case such a conflict of goals and passions acutely affected him at the time detailed here, leading him to creating the songs that make up the \u201cNebraska\u201d album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, director Scott Cooper never intended to make a film just about a rock star but rather about one in turmoil over it. In following the making of Springsteen\u2019s 1982 album \u2014 which he recorded it in his New Jersey bedroom as a demo before deciding to release it as-is \u2014 he has to contend with his manager (Jeremy Strong) who tentatively supports him despite opposition from his label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Boss, this raw, spare, on-cassette set of songs represented a kind of purity of creation he had to do in order to purge himself of his feelings of hesitation. That feeling also affected his ability to pursue a relationship or even to trust his engineers and producers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In playing New Jersey\u2019s favorite rocker (Jon Bonjovi notwithstanding), White offers a far more brooding presence and troubled ideation of the rocker \u2014 a characterization wholeheartedly supported by Springsteen and manager Jon Landau. After “Nebraska” got released, it still achieved a high-charting position; Bruce still had to cope with his reticence to form a relationship and his self-doubt. Ultimately, he’s advised to see a therapist — which he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on Warren Zanes\u2019 2023 book, the rock star\u2019s older fanbase has been slow to turnout for this quieter, more introspective take on a music biopic. Nonetheless, despite the film’s sometimes obvious moments, \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d is a look into stardom that feels less cartoonish than many of the other tales of rock n roll fame.<\/p>\n

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