Bruce Springsteen's Letter to You

Thom Zimny's 2020 documentary follows the five days in which Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band recorded the album Letter to You. The sessions took place in Springsteen's own studio in New Jersey, live and with almost no overdubbing. Two sets of deaths stand behind the film: friends from Springsteen's first band and members the E Street Band has lost. The album's songs were largely written out of that, and the documentary does not conceal it; Springsteen speaks openly on camera about ageing and about being the one left. The black-and-white image and the winter exteriors give the film a tone between funeral and celebration. The way the band members play together shows what a habit of more than forty years looks like. Who it's for: Springsteen listeners and those curious about the studio recording process. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a career-spanning biography; the film stays around one album.