Nebraska
With a focus on mental health, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere chronicles the period leading up to Bruce’s Nebraska album and his connection to his father. It has some nice moments, and Jeremy Allen White is a good choice considering the film calls for plenty of staring into space, pondering life moments.
Bruce is about to break big, but before unleashing Born in the USA onto the world, he needs to figure out what’s going on inside, and what’s eating at him. Despite pressure from people around him to produce hits, he gets introspective and delves into the lives of the everyday person with his songwriting, as well as dealing with a difficult relationship with dad.
Wearing brown contacts, White is convincing enough as the Boss, though perhaps could do with getting himself out of the staring into space rut; before you know it, he will be getting fed cereal on social media. The marker for a good biopic is when you are watching an actor transform into the subject they are playing. White doesn’t quite achieve this, but his performance is good regardless.
Jeremy Strong plays his manager Jon Landau (doing a good enough job, though the exaggerated accent throws it a bit), who is ever so patient with Bruce, despite having a hit on his hands with USA, and backs him all the way albeit with a little frustration. There is also Faye (Odessa Young), a sister of a high school friend who’s keen on Bruce and becomes a love interest he keeps at arm’s length.
The music scenes have their moments, though nothing really pushing the boundaries of a music biopic. The film attempts to focus on the inner side of Bruce’s world, and in doing so feels like it gets bogged down. You can predict the emotional scenes and that it will all come to its climax, which it does.
It’s not a bad thing to focus on this part of the Boss’s life, given how much attention mental health gets these days. The problem is the movie falls into world of biopic cliches and just doesn’t quite connect emotionally, despite being focused on emotion. Entertaining enough, especially for Springsteen or music fans.