{"id":3716,"date":"2025-11-19T00:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/deliver-me-from-nowhere-delivers-nothing-new\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T00:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:49:12","slug":"deliver-me-from-nowhere-delivers-nothing-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/deliver-me-from-nowhere-delivers-nothing-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Deliver Me From Nowhere\u2019 delivers nothing new"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The musician biopic seems to be the latest trend in the film industry, with each year bringing us a new artist\u2019s life story, whether it be Bob Dylan\u2019s rise to fame in James Mangold\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/film\/a-complete-unknown-falls-back-on-mythology\/\">\u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d<\/a> or the struggles of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/baz-luhrmann-tries-to-get-you-all-shook-up-with-elvis\/\">\u201cElvis.\u201d<\/a> In this oversaturated market, though, standing out is everything, and unfortunately Scott Cooper\u2019s (\u201cThe Pale Blue Eye\u201d) \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere\u201d does not rise to the occasion, delivering an unoriginal and painstakingly generic film.<\/p>\n<p>The film opens in stark black and white, depicting a young Bruce Springsteen (Matthew Anthony Pellicano Jr., debut) as he goes to collect his father (Stephen Graham, \u201cBoiling Point\u201d) from the bar. We then jump directly into the colorful concert setting as a now grown-up Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White, \u201cThe Bear\u201d) sings his heart out onstage to his song \u201cBorn to Run.\u201d From there, we get the typical musician struggles as the studio pressures Springsteen to begin work on his next album. <\/p>\n<p>The film is thus centered around the recording process of Springsteen\u2019s 1982 album <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/21\/arts\/music\/bruce-springsteen-nebraska.html\"><em>Nebraska<\/em><\/a> \u2014 which he records in his bedroom with the help of Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser, \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d), his guitar technician, and his friend-slash-manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong, \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d) \u2014 and the ensuing battle with his studio to have it realized the way he envisions. The film also explores the developing relationship between Springsteen and Faye Romano (Odessa Young, \u201cThe Order\u201d), a young single mother he meets in New Jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The throughline that weaves itself around each part of the story is Springsteen\u2019s constant struggle with his mental health as he reckons with the trauma of his childhood. White\u2019s performance is a standout as he navigates the complexities of depression, delicately balancing the emotional turmoil with the already difficult nature of portraying a real person. These moments are the film at its best, reflecting on trauma, mental health and their relationship to music. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Unfortunately, the film doesn\u2019t give itself adequate time to breathe and delve into the complexities of mental health. The film spends the majority of its time outlining the deterioration of Springsteen\u2019s mental health as he buckles under the enormous pressure of the music industry and his personal life. But, in the end, Cooper boils down 10 months of therapy into one frame that reads \u201c10 months later,\u201d a disappointing portrayal that could have depicted the other side and delivered a satisfying resolution to his struggles. Instead, the growth happens off-screen, leaving the audience to see only the results while shutting them out of the journey.<\/p>\n<p>Other strong moments sprinkled throughout the film hint at a deeper story begging to be told, but they are similarly rushed through. The relationship between Springsteen and his father was particularly gripping; when adult Springsteen picks up his dad, drunk from the bar \u2014\u00a0a direct parallel to the opening scene \u2014 they have an incredibly raw exchange as Springsteen\u2019s father reflects on his shortcomings. Jeremiah Fraites\u2019 (\u201cThe Long Walk\u201d) score beautifully frames the scenes. However, when their relationship shares a stage with Springsteen\u2019s music career, his mental health journey and his love life, it is ultimately buried beneath the many other storylines of the film, resulting in an anticlimactic and unearned final reconciliation. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, the friendship between Springsteen and Landau was refreshing, depicting an incredibly healthy male friendship. It was a novel take on the manager-singer relationship, and seeing Landau\u2019s genuine concern and attempts to help Springsteen was extremely touching. However, in stark contrast to their relationship was Springsteen\u2019s relationship with Batlan, who felt like a generic stock character. He acted as the ironic voice of the audience, stating the obvious for cheap laughs. One of the more moving scenes of the film was when Springsteen lay on the floor listening to Suicide\u2019s \u201cFrankie Teardrop,\u201d a dark and grating song that reflected the inner turmoil of his character. However, the moment is immediately undermined when Batlan enters and makes a joke about the obvious discordance of the song, pulling the audience from the scene and transforming a solemn moment into a joke. Batlan felt like a wasted character; he could have mirrored the uniqueness of Landau and Springsteen\u2019s relationship, but instead he only emphasized a contrast in show business ideals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Beyond his music career, Cooper\u2019s depiction of Springsteen\u2019s love life is not much better. His girlfriend, Faye, was created as a composite character representing multiple women with whom Springsteen had a relationship during this time. His relationship with Faye is incredibly shallow \u2014 she is a love interest for the sake of having a love interest. She is initially presented as a fan of Springsteen\u2019s who is lucky enough to garner his attention, yet she is ultimately discarded at the end. Cooper portrays her as inconsequential to Springsteen\u2019s story, and removing her character would have given more space to explore the deeper parts of the story, like Springsteen\u2019s experience in therapy, his subsequent introspection or the rekindling of his relationship with his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Generally, very little in this film feels unique, with every story beat, character and conflict appearing rehashed and generic. It checks every box for a typical biopic \u2014 from fights with studio executives to strained relationships caused by the nature of show business \u2014 while the pieces that do make it stand out are glossed over. Similarly, Masanobu Takayanagi\u2019s (\u201cHostiles\u201d) cinematography was beautiful and technically sound, but rarely stood out as unique or gripping, following formulaic concert imagery and stale close-ups. The issues with Takayanagi\u2019s cinematography extend to the whole film: Every part is well-made, but it lacks inventiveness and originality.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Inherently, biopics are self-indulgent, created to appeal to fans of the musician who want to listen to their favorite songs while getting a glimpse into the artist\u2019s life. This is particularly obvious in a recording studio scene where Springsteen performs his biggest hit, \u201cBorn in the U.S.A.,\u201d despite it not being a part of <em>Nebraska<\/em>, the album the film is actually about. Choosing to include this song is meant to appease the audience \u2014 most of whom aren\u2019t Springsteen aficionados, but who came to the theater to hear one or two hits \u2014 rather than contribute anything to the story. Moments like these pull the audience out of the film, acting like a flashing neon sign that ensures we remember this is about <em>the<\/em> Bruce Springsteen, even if it is to the detriment of the story being told.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The core struggle of this film is the fact that, outside of his career, Springsteen just isn\u2019t that interesting. He\u2019s not enigmatic like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/film\/a-complete-unknown-falls-back-on-mythology\/\">Dylan<\/a>, nor does he have the mystique of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/bohemian-rhapsody-review\/\">Freddie Mercury<\/a> that allowed the actors and writers of \u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d and \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d room for interpretation and a fresh perspective. In fact, Springsteen was largely involved in <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/GMA\/Culture\/bruce-springsteen-facing-darkest-moments-new-film-deliver\/story?id=126667683\">the production<\/a> of the film, creating an inherently strange dynamic and transforming the work into a de facto autobiography. Sure, \u201cSpringsteen\u201d may be technically sound, but it\u2019s destined to be just another biopic lost to time and buried in the public consciousness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Contributor Taylor Koski can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/film\/springsteen-deliver-me-from-nowhere-delivers-nothing-new\/mailto:tckoski@umich.edu\"><em>tckoski@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The musician biopic seems to be the latest trend in the film industry, with each year bringing us a new artist\u2019s life story, whether it be Bob Dylan\u2019s rise to fame in James Mangold\u2019s \u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d or the struggles of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann\u2019s \u201cElvis.\u201d In this oversaturated market, though, standing out is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[3688,358],"class_list":["post-3716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-deliver","tag-delivers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3718,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3716\/revisions\/3718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}