Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere: My first memories of Bruce Springsteen include Christmas 1980 when my step-brother requested The River, and my Mom when she saw the album cover wondered who “that ruffian” was on it. For me, I remember trying in vain for tickets in 1984, lining up outside a TicketMaster sales office in a record store at a Toronto mall, for the Born in the USA tour. Most recently I saw Bruce perform in Buffalo with the E Street Band in March 2023. It only took forty years to get there! There is an autobiography on Bruce out there entitled Born to Run published in 2016 which is unread by me. It might have helped me be better prepared for this film.
This movie starring The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White, deals with the time in the early 1980s after The River was released but before Nebraska. Bruce is already very successful having released in the past five years albums Born to Run (1975), Darkness On the Edge of Town (1978), and The River (1980). Bruce concludes his tour in Cincinnati and then looks to head back home to New Jersey. Bruce’s manager Jon Landau, played by Jeremy Strong, looks to move forward into a new album, more material in which to keep the ball rolling. Bruce is exhausted and looks to decompress for a while.
Bruce stays in a house by himself in a remote part of New Jersey and he will come into NYC to the Power Station music studio to record his tracks. From his earlier rock tracks, music that moves Bruce at this house is more acoustic and deeper, more personally impactful. He remembers back to his childhood, where his Mom, played by Gaby Hoffman, encourages an 8yo Bruce to go to the local bar and retrieve Dad, played by Adolescence‘s Dad Stephen Graham. Dad and Mom argue a lot, much about his drinking and staying out. Bruce is scared of Dad, and as he grows up more than a little sad about him. Mom seems always on the verge of a meltdown. Bruce writes his songs back in his room. He records using a simple TEAC machine plus an echo machine. He puts his tracks on regular cassette tapes. The story continues. It is a dark story, and also shows Bruce being introduced to Faye who is a single Mom who works at the local diner. They begin a relationship, but it is one that those who know Bruce he didn’t end up marrying. His first wife was actress and model Julianne Phillips. Jon Landau hears the new works like Atlantic City and Nebraska and feels that they represent a new more personal side of Bruce. Bruce is committed to those songs in particular. The movie chronicles the recording process and Bruce’s relationship with Faye.
I am fascinated by the creative process, and by those who have the ability to create. Springsteen, despite what Donald Trump says about him, has been creative his entire life. He wrote songs not just for him but others like Manfred Mann, Patti Smith, and The Pointer Sisters. I like that they show Bruce just noodling on the guitar, and then writing out the words on paper. The words seem to flow first for him according to this. But also he wrote a number of songs from Born in the USA, like Glory Days, I’m On Fire and Born in the USA at the same time as those from Nebraska. It is quite a difference in attitude and genre. Born in the USA is more commercial with catchy, poppy hits. One would think that these would come from a different place. Yet Bruce is so committed to Nebraska and those tunes that he decides to shelve those for Born in the USA. There is a moment in the final act where his Dad is at a concert of his, and he requests that 34yo Bruce sit on his lap. Bruce responds “I have never done that” to which I was instantly thinking, “but you wrote about sitting on his lap (in that big ole Buick) in the song My Hometown“!! This as I mention is a dark movie. It doesn’t have a lot of pace. We see the struggles but some realizations for someone who by all accounts “has it all”. Money, fame, accolades and a creative outlet, along with people who support him, especially Landau. One need look no further than Bruce’s words on his Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony to see what Landau has meant to him in his life. I was also interested to see the technology at work and how they were creatively able to put music from a cassette onto old school vinyl. It was a fascinating insight into the business of music. So this is a movie that I was glad that I saw, it provided me with a new understanding and has encouraged me to learn more about the Boss and his music. From that standpoint, it is mission accomplished.
House of Guinness: I have been to Dublin. I have been to the Guinness factory. I will admit to enjoying a pint from time to time. I will say that I agree with the adage that says that the Guinness tastes better the closer you get to Dublin (although Cork was really good too). But this drama on Netflix from Peaky Blinders‘ Steven Knight isn’t a beer story, it is a story about family and succession in 1868 in the year when Sir Benjamin Guinness passed away. His adult children Anne, Arthur, Benjamin, and Edward then are tasked with the legacy of a business as directed by their father. Like the HBO drama Succession each of the children have their skills, and not all of them involve knowing how to run the beer business. Sir Benjamin Guinness the father was a head of a brewery but also a noted philanthropist as well as someone active in government, as he was the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1851 and represented Dublin in the House of Commons in London. He was a difficult act to follow.
Each of the children have their own issues, with Edward played by Louis Partridge and Arthur played by Masters of the Air Anthony Boyle being the primary focus. They run the brewery as partners who don’t always see eye to eye. Being in Ireland, there are aspects of Protestant and Catholics, Irish and British, the aristocracy and the workers all joined in together. For a business that is looking to grow and expand, there is domestic and international challenges to bring forward and address. But the story is about people and not a business. People who had passions, and loves and desires beyond their own station. It seems this is still a time when women aren’t allowed to be heads of companies, and that being in love with someone not of your same class, or of your same sex is something which can bring disrepute to the family name. So much is done to keep the secrets hidden. I liked the series and this first season which is clearly set up for a second season. Leadership isn’t easy, and not being true to oneself isn’t easy either. We saw a lot of this in the HBO series The Crown with the life of Queen Elizabeth and her family. Certainly there are sympathetic aspects of their lives, but there are also horrific acts and situations that are perpetrated. All that to say that this along with The Diplomat most recently were quality and interesting television to watch in between baseball and hockey games! I look forward to season 2.
Mondays With Robbie 