<\/p>\n
In 1982, Todd Rundgren released an album called \u201cThe Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2024, Taylor Swift released an album \u2014 albums \u2014 called \u201cThe Tortured Poets Department.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bruce Springsteen would like a word.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere\u201d is the decidedly downbeat story of Bruce Springsteen making what many consider to be among his finest albums, \u201cNebraska,\u201d directed by Scott Cooper (\u201cCrazy Heart,\u201d \u201cThe Pale Blue Eye\u201d). The album itself, basically a demo released as the final product, was a stark departure both from Springsteen\u2019s previous work (though there were hints on his previous double album, \u201cThe River\u201d) and from what was popular at the time.<\/p>\n
While making \u201cNebraska\u201d \u2014 at the time Springsteen was just trying to get some songs together, nothing with an overarching theme \u2014 he was also suffering from serious depression, nearly suicidal, struggling to come to terms with childhood abuse and finding a new direction in his life and music. In one rather cliched moment, Springsteen is buying his first new car. The car dealer recognizes him, says, \u201cI know who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes one of us,\u201d Springsteen replies. This, alas, is not the only cliche floating around in the movie.<\/p>\n
The acting, with Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen and Jeremy Strong as Springsteen\u2019s friend and manager Jon Landau, is excellent. White also does his own singing, credibly pulling off performances of parts of songs like \u201cBorn to Run,\u201d \u201cBorn in the USA\u201d and others. The notion of where creativity comes from is also compelling, whether it\u2019s from moments frozen in your psyche forever or just looking out the window at the lake.<\/p>\n
But for me, at least, it\u2019s all in service to an album I don\u2019t love, or even like all that much. I like some of the songs (\u201cAtlantic City\u201d is one of his best), but I\u2019ve never cared for Springsteen\u2019s car-mechanic, man-of-the-people persona. Let him rock, I say.<\/p>\n
Am I just not a big enough Springsteen fan to appreciate the album? I don\u2019t know, I think I am. But that doesn\u2019t matter. Loving \u201cNebraska\u201d shouldn\u2019t be a required entry point for enjoying this movie. And it\u2019s not, at least not fully. But since it\u2019s based on Warren Zanes\u2019 book and its mere existence is based on the idea of it as a singular work of art, one of the greatest albums ever made, it certainly helps.<\/p>\n
The film begins with Springsteen playing \u201cBorn to Run\u201d as the encore to his last show on his tour for \u201cThe River.\u201d He\u2019s exhausted, and wants some time off. The record company, represented by Al Teller (David Krumholtz), wants a follow-up, fast. \u201cHungry Heart\u201d was a top 10 hit, and Teller is, well, hungry for more.<\/p>\n
One thing that becomes clear early on, however, is that Springsteen calls the shots. They call him \u201cThe Boss\u201d for a reason. So he holes up in a home he rents in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and reads and watches movies on TV (Flannery O\u2019Connor is a big favorite, and Terrence Malick\u2019s \u201cBadlands\u201d proves pivotal) while driving into Asbury Park to play cover songs with local bands at the Stone Pony, the legendary bar where he cut his teeth.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s after one of those shows that he meets Faye Romano (Odessa Young, also good), a single mother who is aware of Springsteen \u2014 everyone in New Jersey is by this point \u2014 and starts seeing him. (Faye is a composite of several women.)<\/p>\n
Creatively, Springsteen is frustrated. He feels like his surge in popularity has created a distance between him and his past, the people he grew up with, his family. Being back in New Jersey means driving by his shuttered old home.<\/p>\n
It also means black-and-white flashbacks to his childhood, with his father (Stephen Graham) and mother (Gaby Hoffman), who argue constantly. Springsteen yearns for his father\u2019s approval; that yearning leads to the most powerful moment in the movie, when past and present collide. But Cooper at times goes to the flashback well too often, slowing the film\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n
Springsteen has read about a new gizmo, a four-track recorder where he can make demos of the songs he\u2019s writing in the bedroom of his house, where he likes the flat acoustics. Mike Batlan (Paul Michael Hauser), his guitar tech, brings one to the house and they start running through songs \u2014 songs about disappointment, disillusionment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBadlands\u201d (the film, not the Springsteen song) is about serial killer Charlie Starkweather. After watching it, Springsteen starts writing what will become the title song, about Starkweather. At some point, he changes all the third-person references to the killer to first-person. It\u2019s a big moment in terms of discovery of where he wants these songs to go.<\/p>\n
Famously, some of the songs would end up on \u201cBorn in the USA,\u201d the album that rocketed Springsteen to global fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cBorn in the USA\u201d is one of the most misread hit songs ever, with Ronald Reagan wanting to use it at rallies. Some complain that the boisterous, anthemic version on the album belies the cynical point of view of a Vietnam veteran. I\u2019ve always liked that version, and thought it was a sure test of whether anyone was listening to the lyrics.<\/p>\n
I felt that way even more when Springsteen brings \u201cBorn in the USA\u201d into the studio in New York and the band blazes through it, everyone laughing, jumping around, having a great time. I know how they feel. Finally, some relief from the gloom.<\/p>\n
Springsteen wasn\u2019t finding that relief, though. He\u2019s lying in the floor of his house blasting \u201cFrankie Teardrop\u201d by the downbeat new wave band Suicide, calling it \u201cthe most amazing record I ever heard.\u201d Just don\u2019t play it on repeat, Mike advises him.<\/p>\n
Despite pressure from the record company, Springsteen, with great effort from producers (including Marc Maron playing engineer Chuck Plotkin), releases \u201cNebraska\u201d on his own terms \u2014 the demos, more or less. No singles, no press, no picture of him on the cover. To complaints that the sound is somehow \u201coff,\u201d Springsteen responds, \u201cWhatever\u2019s off sounds just right to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an imperfect film, obviously, though to Springsteen fantatics (that, I am not) it\u2019ll be a godsend. For the rest of us, it\u2019s interesting, but mopey. Yet surely, I can\u2019t be the only one who would rather watch this than listen to the album.<\/p>\n
I promised my kid a Springsteen show: <\/strong>Why it took 12 years to get there<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Great \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 Good \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n Fair \u2605\u2605\u2605 Bad \u2605\u2605\u00a0Bomb\u00a0\u2605<\/p>\n Director:<\/strong> Scott Cooper.<\/p>\n Cast: <\/strong>Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Odessa Young.<\/p>\n Rating: <\/strong>PG-13 for thematic material, some sexuality, strong language, and smoking.<\/p>\n How to watch: <\/strong>In theaters Friday, Oct. 24.<\/p>\n Reach Goodykoontz at\u00a0bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com<\/a>. Facebook:facebook.com\/GoodyOnFilm<\/a>. Media commentary with a side of snark? Sign up for\u00a0The Watchlist newsletter\u00a0with Bill Goodykoontz.<\/p>\n\u2018Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere\u2019 3 stars<\/h2>\n