Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere | Film Review

 

In the 1980's, Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) creates his album 'Nebraska' on the cusp of global stardom.

This wasn't one I was particularly excited for. I heard a lot about it before it came out, but once it was actually released all the talk died down and no one seemed to have anything to say about it. And as someone who isn't particularly a Springsteen fan, I only really watched it for Jeremy Allen White.

I didn't love this film.

The first thing I noted was that none of the performances felt particularly authentic. It took me a while to believe that these actors were who they were pretending to be, which started the film on a sour note.

The story felt more like a collection of scenes than anything with a coherent plot.

There were some aspects of the story that were fun to watch, the beginning of the romance (if you can call it that) for example. But those small moments didn't help with the overall story.

None of the characters, including Springsteen himself, were particularly interesting or memorable.

But that being said, this might have changed if we got to know the supporting characters a bit better. Yes this is Springsteen's story, but when he isn't holding the audience's attention, tell us more about the people around him.

The film is essentially entirely about the creation of an album that I didn't know much about before the film started, and didn't care about by the time it ended.

The biggest thing about this movie for me, which is the same note I had about 'A Complete Unknown',  is that if you're not already a fan of that person's music, the characterisation in the film isn't strong enough to suddenly make you care about this person - which is why these two biopics are weaker than say Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman, where we fall in love with the music through the characters, rather than the other way around.

So overall, due to the fact that I wasn't a fan of Springsteen before this movie, and the movie didn't make me become one, this isn't a film I liked or would really recommend. There were some good things about it, but not enough to make it work for me.

4/10