This film is not about the songs. This film is all about the songs! As a Springsteen fan, I was filled with anticipation. What I got from watching this film was unexpected and much deeper than anything I could have imagined.
This biopic takes a slice of Springsteen's life in 1981. Much has been made of the contrast between onstage and offstage Springsteen. Onstage he is 100% energy projecting a persona that personalises the songs in a way that connects with the audience. Offstage he is quiet and withdrawn, shunning the limelight and fame that comes with his growing success.
Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) is welded to his blue-collar New Jersey upbringing. This is the lens through which he interprets life and the world that produces his earthy, industrial lyrics that make such a strong connection with his fans. The fact that this is a natural and not contrived process deepens the impact further.
There are frequent flash-backs to Springsteen's childhood where an eight year-old boy with no siblings lives in constant fear of violent outbursts from his alcoholic father (Stephen Graham). He is shown as being constantly distracted and in the film admits that High School was a bit hazy in his memory. The flash-backs add more and more context to his troubled childhood but don't go much beyond him as eight years old. The adult Springsteen in the film takes a narrow slice of 1981 as he withdraws from potential public stardom to a rented villa in a remote location, close to the town of Freehold NJ where he grew up.
Coming off the back of a hugely successful US tour, Springsteen is being pressured by his record label CBS to produce another album with hit singles, to tour and maybe even star in a movie - Born in the USA. Springsteen is clear he wants none of this. In the seclusion of his villa, he turns his bedroom into a rudimentary four-track recording studio on which he produces a cassette tape of songs which, because of the method of recording, sound rough and unpolished.
The inspirational catalyst for these new songs is a movie Springsteen catches on TV - Badlands and from which he decides to research the crime spree of Charles Starkweather who features in the film. Initially Springsteen writes lyrics that refer to the murderous Starkweather as 'he'. As the painful flash-backs come more frequently, a tormented Springsteen crosses out 'he' replacing it with 'I'. This completely transforms the power of the song.
During this period, Springsteen hooks up with the younger sister of an old High School class-mate Faye Romano (Odessa Young) and a romance develops. This too offers raw material for some of the increasingly dark and sombre songs being recorded in the bedroom sessions. In the end, there is enough material for a double album and Springsteen presents his manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) with an unboxed cassette tape as the demo for the next album.
They begin recording in New York City and lay down a powerful version of Born in the USA from the movie script Springsteen had been offered. The other songs are given the same polished production technique and while the musicianship of the East Street Band is never in doubt, the songs have lost their acoustic rawness which for Springsteen is an integral part of their identity.
A titanic struggle ensues on three fronts. Firstly for artistic control of his own material with the record company who want a polished hit-single filled album. Secondly in his own mind over his relationship with Faye and Springsteen's seeming self-doubt that he could never love her as she deserves to be loved. Finally within Springsteen's own psyche as he wrestles with the demons of his past as he tries to reconcile them to the person he is now.
Of these three, the only 'victory' comes in the external battle with the record company who release an album Nebraska with no publicity, no tour and without Springsteen's picture on the sleeve. It rises to number three in the US charts. The rest of the material that was recorded goes on to form the next album - Born in the USA which was to propel Springsteen to global stardom.
Springsteen's parents, who have since moved to Los Angeles are struggling and a phone call from his mother Adele (Gabby Hoffman) who is distraught as his father has gone missing and is off his 'meds', sees Springsteen respond by flying to LA to find him. This he does in a bar. He admits him to hospital and gets him back on his medication.
Shortly afterwards, Springsteen decides to relocate to LA to be nearer his parents and to cut his ties with Faye. The parting is messy and painful as Faye accuses Springsteen of being unable or unwilling to face up to his fears. They part.
Springsteen is driven to LA by his friend and mechanic Matt Delia (Harrison Sloan Gilbertson) and as the journey progresses Springsteen slides deeper into psychosis and in Lubbock Texas experiences a mental breakdown. Eventually reaching LA, Springsteen is delivered to his new mansion in the Hollywood Hills with panoramic views of LA symbolising to me, that he is king of all he surveys - he has conquered the music world.
Feeling suicidal, he reaches out to Landau who urges him to seek professional help. Springsteen engages a therapist and we cut to 10 months later and the end of a gig in LA where Springsteen announces to Landau that it is good to be back on stage. His parents are at the gig and he is ushered into a locker room where his father sits isolated and disconnected. He asks his son to sit on his lap which Springsteen reluctantly does. He tells his father this is the first time he has ever done that. His father tells him he is very proud of his son and all he has accomplished. The movie ends. An epilogue tells viewers that Springsteen continues to seek treatment for depression.
This film allows us the privilege of a peek at the powers and memories that inspire creative people to create or at least this creative person. Those of us who do not have such creative outlet channels have to find other ways of channeling our inner angst and making our relationships work as we seek to love and be loved in the midst of trying to understand who we are.
I will never listen to the songs of Nebraska in the same way again. Great acting performances and of course great songs! I'll give this film 8/10.
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