Last year’s Bob Marley: One Love centred around the making of ‘Exodus’, the reggae singer’s most successful album. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere takes a similar tack, but focuses on the making of ‘Nebraska’, one of the Boss’s less commercial works. It’s a bold choice, eschewing the jukebox style of biopic to depict a defining time in the singer’s life. Unfortunately, despite fine performances all round, the gamble doesn’t pay off. Insightful it may be, it’s just not very interesting. Nor for that matter entertaining.

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Hot on the heels of the successful River tour, Springsteen’s record label is keen to capitalise on the singer’s popularity and cut a new album. Manager Jon Landau, conscious of his client’s needs, arranges for Springsteen to wind down at a rental near his childhood home. Haunted by his relationship with his father, a collection of new songs begins to emerge. After producing a demo tape in his bedroom, Springsteen becomes increasingly frustrated when the studio is unable to duplicate the rawness of its sound.

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In a case of art imitating life, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is similarly dogmatic in its artistic choices. There are only two songs performed by Jeremy Allen White in his portrayal of Springsteen, neither of which come from ‘Nebraska’. For much of the remaining running time we witness a morose Springsteen, head perpetually cocked to one side, struggling with his memories, compositions and relationship with a fictitious single mother. Yet despite the spuriousness of her character’s origins, Odessa Young’s performance neatly aligns with the biopic’s honesty in its telling, evoking a rawness that it is truly affecting.​

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Though aficionados of the Boss may find much to like about this biopic, I find myself empathising with Columbia executive Al Teller, who upon hearing ‘Nebraska’ for the first time opines “It's just not for me. Actually, I don't know who it's for.”