I went to see Delivery Me From Nowhere on Friday. I had no great expectations beforehand. As a fan since the mid 70s, I loved Born To Run, Darkness and The River upon release. I remember the shock when I bought Nebraska on day of release in 1982 and it took me a long time to get my head around it and really understand it. Now I would say, it is a masterpiece. From magazines such as Cream, Rolling Stone & Crawdaddy that were sent across to me from the USA, as well as the rush of live bootlegs in those early years, I became acutely aware of the relationship issues with his father.
It wasn’t until many years after that I became aware of Springsteen’s own challenges with depression. That was widely covered in his autobiography. When I saw his show on Broadway, he also covered it as well as his relationship with his father.
I thought Warren Zane’s book gave further insights into his personal mental health struggles and the recording of Nebraska. So I guess this a long way of saying that, for me, the film was excellent. I thought it dealt very well with his relationship with his dad, the difficulties he had with maintaining romantic relationships as well as the recording of Nebraska. Everything in the film merely reinforced what was already known.
I went at an off peak time and, as with your experience, the cinema was very quiet. That said, I really don’t think this is a film for the casual viewer or even the casual Springsteen fan. It covers a mere 2 years with a very specific focus on mental health and the recording of Nebraska. There is cinematic licence, mainly with the fictitious girlfriend (albeit it largely made sense) and the timeline of his reconciliation with his father which was much later. However, I can understand the artistic reasons for that.
So I really enjoyed the film, thought the actors playing Bruce, Jon Landau and Springsteen’s father were excellent. That said, my wife did not enjoy the film nearly as much as me.
Pretty much agree with all of that. I enjoyed the fact that we weren’t going to see an ending and that struck me as the right editorial decision, but, in some way the tension level never quite seemed where I expected it to be and the different perspectives were interesting rather than absolutely compelling.
The one moment which genuinely floored me was the suicide. I didn’t see it coming and the way it was simply shown but not dwelt upon was the one moment the urgency was really communicated. Glad I saw it and Id recommend it to others but it wasn’t quite the film it could have been.
We are just back from Springsteen which we loved for its portrayal of an artist on the cusp of the big time yet haunted by his past.
The guy who played the manager was great, and we had a sense of the tension for him as an intermediary between the record label demanding ‘product’ and the story-telling artist.
The photography and the sound were top notch too, nowhere more so than when the vinyl master of Nebraska was cut from the Portastudio’s cassette tape.
Plus, as my partner pointed out, “there was enough vintage American hi-fi there for you and your Naim mates to go home happy.” [!]
Went to see One Battle After Another after reading the reviews here - excellent 2.5 hours of entertainment and great performances all round. Not sure about the Jonny Greenwood sound track though, found the middle section very tedious and distracting and it just went on and on for about 30 mins with the music too prominent in the mix for my liking. Great film though
Agreed to a degree. I hadn’t clocked who had done the music so assumed it to, appropriately, be some 1960s free jazz with which I was not familiar. There was a 5 minute spell where it was foregrounded and became more than a little irritating.
Ultimately I thought that was one of the achievements of the film. There is so much with which to disagree with and yet…
My wife and I went to see the Springsteen film at the Everyman Cinema in Newcastle yesterday. We benefited from the over-60’s ‘silver screen’ tickets, with free coffee and cake delivered to our settee seats. There are some benefits to growing old .
We enjoyed the film, which covered a key period of Springsteens career. Nebraska was never one of my favourite albums and the contrast between those songs and the ones, written at the same time, which found their way onto Born in the USA, is fascinating. In terms of commerciality, those two albums couldn’t be more different. Anyway, we enjoyed the film, Jeremy Strong played a great part, and the cake was great.
For me the best part of the Springsteen film was the fake girlfriend. The rest? Well for me it was at the poorer end of the made for TV music biopics. I thought the main performance was more bad Elvis impersonator than actual actor. The look on his face when Badlands came on TV was nothing short of hilarious. All the right moves and some of the tics but zero communication of anything profound. Honourable mention for Maron as Pllotkin and the guy who played Mike Batlan. Arguably the only competent acting bar the fake girlfriend. The Landau performance was just awful. So wooden I winced every time he was on screen. Like someone reading the notes from someone else’s psychotherapy session.
What truly astonished me was reading the credits and seeing Warren Zanes as one of the two executive producers. What on earth was he thinking?
I’d be interested to know who had read the book upon which the film was allegedly based before watching the film? I read it when it came out and I have no hesitation in recommending it to any Springsteen fan and especially fans of Nebraska. It’s not just that it’s interesting if you like/love the album. It’s a quite profound meditation on creativity and the range of things which went to lead to that point and that album. I’d also rate it as one of the greatest books I’ve read on music. Like, easily top three.
My first reactions to the fact the film was being made was to conclude that such a rich book could not possibly be filmed. Having seen it, I stand by that. The film reduces a truly inspired book to “daddy issues and depression” and even represents those so simplistically I’m embarrassed for them. It was reductive and… aaaaaggggghhhh. Never want to see that again.
Before anyone starts, I’ve been a huge Bruce fan for decades but don’t see anything especially great or even that interesting in the past 15 years give or take. That period from the first album through to Tunnel Of Love was outstanding. Nebraska was astonishing. This film, for me, does an acute disservice to both the album and the book.
fully agree. I think that the guy playing Landau sounded like he was playing Woody Allen playing John Landau. The film was not for me , but it’s great that we all appreciate different things, …..each to his own. So good also ,that we are able to express our opinion on an open forum.
I’d not registered that but now you’ve said it. Yes, absolutely.
It’s one of those films which is going to get good reviews from those with contacts with, or a need for, Springsteen and the new box and slightly more honest reviews from those with no need. By the time it makes it to TV and gets stars out of 5 I’d be astonished to see it get more than 3.
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