Bruce Springsteen creates the album Nebraska from the bedroom of his New Jersey abode. "The boss" battles depression and meets a pseudo groupie looking for a relationship. Bruce has flashbacks of his alcoholic father and contemplates suicide. Yup, that's the gist of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, a somewhat dark drama that's edited choppily yet packs enough of a wallop for any portrait of a rocker that's chock full of inner demons.
Brucie, well he's played by Jeremy Allen White, a dude that doesn't look or sound like Jersey's favorite son. Oh well. He gets the slouch right, the hair is in place, and the hunch, well it's not too shabby either. "I do know who you are." Duh, who doesn't know who Springsteen is. I mean unless you've been hanging out in an igloo since 1973.
So yeah, "Deliver" is not really a concert movie so don't expect the bossman to belt out a bunch of hits. This is a character study mind you, a supposed, true story character study that shows Bruce in his brooding element circa 1981-1982.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, yeah it's directed by Scott Cooper, he of Out of the Furnace and Black Mass fame. Cooper with rack focus, dark hues, and close-ups in tote, makes "Deliver" the product of doom and gloom, the monger of grubby and total slovenly. Heck, whenever I watch his movies I feel like I'm getting off work from an 18-hour steelworker shift only to find myself heading over to the local waterhole to sip a cold brewski. Believe that.
Film-making adroitness and Pennsylvania crime thrillers aside, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere suffers slightly when it paints Bruce Springsteen as nearly in a brown study with a trifling "whoa is me" persona. Other than that it's well, earthy cinema, a snapshot canvas of a legendary American singer who was once considered the next Bob Dylan. Lighten up "Boss", "Deliver" pretty much "delivers" the goods. Natch.
Written by Jesse Burleson
