‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’ and ‘Ballad of a Small Player’ Emerge as Major Awards Contenders at Telluride

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Aug 31

Written By Jonathan P. Moustakas

*Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere -* **Credit**: **20th Century Studios**

Jeremy Allen White transforms into the Boss while Colin Farrell spirals in Macau’s casinos — two Telluride premieres that already feel destined for the Oscar conversation.

The Telluride Film Festival prides itself on being the unofficial launchpad of awards season, and its opening night lived up to that reputation with the back-to-back premieres of Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere and Ballad of a Small Player. Both films put their stars — Jeremy Allen White and Colin Farrell — at the center of performances so commanding that they instantly reshape the awards landscape.

Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, distributed by 20th Century Pictures, takes audiences into the stripped-down creative solitude of Bruce Springsteen in 1981. After the whirlwind success of The River, Springsteen retreats to a quiet New Jersey lakehouse to record the demos that would become Nebraska. Far from the arena-rock spectacle he was known for, Springsteen captures lo-fi tracks on a four-track recorder, fighting for the hushed intimacy he hears in his head. White captures the bruised resilience of a man confronting depression, family ghosts, and industry pressure. Stephen Graham is wrenching as Springsteen’s hard-drinking father, while Jeremy Strong lends a steady warmth as Jon Landau, the manager who anchors him through uncertainty. Cooper keeps the focus inward, eschewing the big-ticket concert scenes most music biopics can’t resist. The result is an interior portrait of an artist refusing to compromise — a decision that defined his career. Critics are divided on the film’s overall execution, but the consensus is clear: Jeremy Allen White has never been better, and awards recognition feels inevitable.

If Springsteen is about quiet conviction, Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player is a fever dream of collapse. Returning to Telluride one year after Conclave earned eight Oscar nominations, Berger adapts Lawrence Osborne’s novel into a swirling portrait of addiction and ruin in Macau’s casinos. Colin Farrell, almost unrecognizable in velvet jackets, cravats, and yellow gloves, embodies Lord Doyle, a con man fleeing debts and demons. Farrell’s Doyle is desperate, sweaty, and magnetic, unraveling with every roll of the dice as creditors close in. Tilda Swinton circles as a relentless investigator, while hotel managers and mobsters lurk in the shadows. Berger orchestrates the descent with stylistic bravado, his camera sweeping across neon-lit gambling halls before closing in on Farrell’s anguished face. The film is polished to a jewel’s gleam, but beneath the shimmer is an unflinching character study about the human cost of vice. It’s the sort of performance that could take Farrell from nomination to frontrunner.

Ballad of a Small Player **Credit: Netflix**

Together, these two films underscore why Telluride is seen as the heartbeat of awards season. One is an austere meditation on creativity, the other a lush spiral into self-destruction — both powered by actors at the height of their craft. For Jeremy Allen White, already ascendant from The Bear, the leap to full-blown movie star is complete. For Colin Farrell, it’s another reminder that few actors can disappear so completely into a role while keeping the audience on edge.

Telluride has a history of debuting films that dominate the Oscars — from Moonlight to Nomadland — and this year, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere and Ballad of a Small Player appear poised to continue that tradition. With festival season just beginning, the race is on, and both Disney’s 20th Century and Netflix seem ready to campaign hard.