With Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, Rock’s blue-collar everyman—Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen—gets a fittingly plain, down-to-earth biopic. For an artist renowned for his piercing meditations on the despair of The American Dream and the struggles of ordinary, working-class people, Cooper’s film often feels too subdued and generic to do The Boss true justice—especially when coupled with the rollicking grandeur of hits like “Born in the Usa” and “Born to Run” (both of which prominently feature in the 117-minute runtime). Though stylistically starved, its less-is-more approach uniquely echoes Springsteen’s tortured state of mind in the early 80s, when he famously defied his mainstream momentum and dared to make a record that sounded nothing like his bombastic trademark.

Adapted from Warren Zane’s book of the same name, Cooper’s film forgoes a traditional, cradle-to-grave biopic approach for a more focused snapshot of a specific period in Springsteen’s life. While that leaves the uninitiated without much-needed context, it allows the most faithful of fans to peer into the anguished creative process behind the making of his stark, stripped-down classic, Nebraska. Though Deliver Me from Nowhere precariously teeters between being tedious and insightful, it unfolds as an intimate portrait of an artist in spiritual flux.

Jeremy Allen White stars as a tormented Springsteen, who, after coming off a barn-burning tour, struggles to reconcile his newfound superstardom with the ghosts of his past. Cutting between monochromatic flashbacks to Springsteen’s childhood and an early 80s New Jersey, Deliver Me from Nowhere chronicles the making of one of his enduring works, as The Boss reckons with the sins of his father, using a shoddy four-track recorder, and taking influence from Terence Malick’s Badlands and Suicide’s seminal no wave debut.

Much like the album it centres on, Deliver Me from Nowhere is a sombre, pared-down affair that hinges on quiet moments of creation and heartfelt interactions. For stretches, Cooper’s film feels woefully under-directed, banking all its emotional beats and payoffs on its top-billed star. It’s a wonder then that Jeremy Allen White conjures his most nuanced and subtle performance yet, nailing the pitch and timbre of Springsteen’s crooning and his ragged New Jerseyan drawl. Clad in cool leather and plaid, White breathes aching life into someone very easy to look at, but incredibly hard to define.

While White’s Oscar-bound performance commands the frame, Jeremy Strong holds his own as Springsteen’s manager, Jon Landau, imbuing the film with jolts of comedy and sincerity. Though turns from Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, and Odessa Young are given short shrift in an experience that, at times, succumbs to a slogging pace and a tropey framework, Deliver Me from Nowhere succeeds as a tribute to music as a tool for reconciliation and healing.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is in theatres on Oct. 24 (Via 20th Century Studios)