Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is a new musician biopic about Bruce Springsteen that the average viewer may think is “Oscar-bait.” In these types of films, someone’s entire life story is told in the span of a few hours and can often face criticism for brushing over important details and not giving them enough focus. This movie is unique in the sense that it doesn’t cover a lot of time in the titular musician’s life.

As his 1980-1981 “The River” tour comes to a close, Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) is recording a new album, Nebraska, in 1982 at a house near his hometown in New Jersey. He wants this album to feel different from his more energetic, passionate songs. His manager, Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) is encouraging, yet some of the other executives aren’t sure about Springsteen’s stylistic choices.  

As someone who didn’t know much about Springsteen’s music or personal life going in, I was skeptical because I didn’t know how it could feel cinematic. Movies have to have conflict in order to be interesting, and I wasn’t sure how it could be done with someone that, as far as I know, did not deal with a lot of struggle and trials. There are flashbacks of Springsteen’s childhood where it’s revealed his father, Douglas (Stephen Graham) battled mental health issues and alcoholism. Springsteen reflects on his relationship with his father and is using this as inspiration for Nebraska. Thus, there’s two primary conflicts: Springsteen wanting to release Nebraska the way he intended and understanding how he ended up where he is. 

One of the songs, “Mansion on the Hill,” was inspired by (you guessed it) a house that Springsteen and his sister saw one day that their father drove them to. A scene of Springsteen and his sister playing has the adult Springsteen working out the lyrics in the background. We see Springsteen in the songwriting process, in the rooms of music executives in New York City, and on top of that, is dating single-mom Faye (Odessa Young). This is where the film starts to get repetitive. 

Many of the scenes feel like they’re accomplishing the same goal. The songwriting scenes are all about working through the kinks and getting the performance right. These transition into the meetings with the executives who, besides Landau, aren’t too supportive and don’t understand what it all means.

The music biopic cliches kick in when these scenes don’t go anywhere and when Faye starts to feel ignored by Bruce; he’s busy working on his album but is battling depression and anxiety due to his past coming back to haunt him. He’s going through a lot, and while the album does get released, it’s a matter of asking how it gets made. Regardless, it does tie back together to the movie’s themes of overcoming fears and confronting your past. 

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is an enjoyable enough time. It doesn’t do anything too unique outside of tackling the certain time period in which it takes place, yet it is a well-intentioned, slower character study. It checks the boxes but is not poorly made in the slightest.