Recxpectations: Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

One image that I always think of when I hear Bruce Springsteen’s name is an old cartoon that showed a classroom and in the front row was Bob Dylan who is taking a test. In the second row is Bruce Springsteen, who is looking over Dylan’s shoulder to take answers from his test. And in the third row is John (Cougar) Mellencamp who is sneaking a look at Springsteen’s paper, trying to take answers from him. I’m sure Springsteen fans won’t appreciate this image but it’s one that stuck with me and it feels especially funny that Springsteen’s documentary would show up a year after the Dylan flick “Complete Unknown” came out. It’s also interesting how “Deliver Me From Nowhere” is kind of the inverse of “Complete Unknown.” Where Dylan went electric, Springsteen goes acoustic. While Dylan pushed away his past and was always exploring for something new, Springsteen is haunted by his past and craves a return to the world he once knew. Dylan is assured and cocky while Springsteen is lost and depressed. But, in terms of the films, the biggest difference is that it is simply much easier to show Dylan’s path and devil-may-care attitude than it is to bring Springsteen’s personal and inner issues to the big screen.

EXPECT: A VIDEO ACCOMPANIMENT OF THE BOOK
I haven’t read the book “Deliver Me From Nowhere” but people rave about how great is is. And while I was watching the movie, I kept feeling some certain moments and references were probably signposts for memorable passages in the book. But, for me, too much of the film felt flat. Moments didn’t carry any oomph. There was no impact and not really any consequences. Hell, there’s barely even an antagonist. Bruce’s father looms large over things but he’s mostly seen in forgettable flashbacks.

EXPECT: A MOVIE ABOUT DEPRESSION
I feel like this is the most important thing about to expect because for the first two-thirds of the film, I was watching a fairly cliched story about a guy dealing with new-found stardom, past trauma, and trying to bring his unconventional next idea to life. So for me, the third act suddenly being about Springsteen suffering from depression struck me as a bit out of nowhere. Yes, he mentions being lost and what not but it seemed like the usual tortured poet storyline from most every music biopic. I think knowing that the film is about depression will give people a better headspace to view what unfolds. His passion isn’t just about artistic vision and something he wants to say, it’s also about a deeper struggle.

DON’T EXPECT: MUCH SET-UP
The movie kicks off with Bruce wrapping his tour for The River and heading off to New Jersey to relax and work on his next album. But because Bruce is immediately off by himself and immediately dropped into Tortured Poet mode, it’s kind of hard to figure out how big of star he is, how much his life has changed, and how he’s affected by the change. We still see him jamming at the local bar with his friends. He’s going to diners without being mobbed by fans. Again, this is an example of where the book probably paints a more vivid picture of where Bruce was and where he suddenly found himself. Director Scott Cooper’s previous film “Black Mass” is a film that has grown on me and I think what really helps that film is the testimony from Whitey Bulger’s accomplices that is sprinkled in throughout the film. It’s a clever way to inject exposition into the film and help explain the growth and changes we’re seeing in the scenes. In Deliver Me From Nowhere, Cooper attempts a similar trick by having a couple of scenes with Jeremy Strong’s Jon Landau talking to his wife. This approach didn’t work for me for two reasons - a) whereas “Black Mass” was often just explaining the basic facts of what was happening, this film’s exposition was about Bruce Springsteen’s mindset and inner turmoil, which is a harder sell coming from a third party and b) the scenes just came off as self-serious and disconnected. They felt like scenes that were added in later in reshoots to help spell out what was happening.

EXPECT: AN ARTIST APPROVED FILM
Bruce doesn’t really do anything wrong here. He’s not great with the love interest in the movie but even then, it’s painted more as a symptom of his struggle. In reality, the Faye character is a composite of multiple girlfriends.The single mom he dated, I believe, was Karen Darvin, a model who would later go onto marry Todd Rundgren, not exactly a waitress at a diner. Obviously, all biopics are going to have to cheat a little to fit the story into two hours but this change feels particularly false and like a plot device for the film.

DON’T EXPECT: A FILM THAT WILL CONVERT PEOPLE
Again, because so much feels left out and there’s no real set-up for how we got here, this doesn’t seem like a film that will bring in new fans. I think Springsteen’s fans will eat it up but it won’t make much of a dent in pop culture.

DON’T EXPECT: THE “HOLE IN HIS BEDROOM” SPEECH
It’s always interesting when a trailer for a film is built around something that doesn’t actually appear in the movie. Part of me wonders if the filmmakers saw all of the social media chatter about how that monologue reminded everyone of something from “Walk Hard”. Or maybe they realized that it was a little too self-serious and also that it kind of, in a way, flew in the face of the ultimate point of the film.