Springsteen on Broadway

It’s a master class in pacing, dynamics, modulation of volume and tone, and the film brings you right up onstage with Springsteen, giving you a more intimate view of his technique--understated, seemingly casual but absolutely controlled--than you could get in the theater. Each expression, gesture, artful hesitation and sly punch line is zeroed in on, framed for our appreciation.

The act of emotion and physicality that is “Springsteen on Broadway” is a kind of miracle in which the greatest singular rock star we’ve ever had turns out to be as much of a sensitive endurance artist on Spalding Gray’s ground as he is on childhood hero Elvis’ turf--and as healing a presence as Anne Lamott or even Maya Angelou, incarnated as a cool rockin’ daddy on the Great White Way.

Like many of the all-time great concert films, Springsteen On Broadway is no substitute for being in the room, but it’s power transcends any perceived limitations. Springsteen On Broadway sets a standard for all musicians entering their twilight years, as the man up on stage offers his most moving work in a catalog full of them.

Zimny, Springsteen’s collaborator on a number of previous film projects, has done a remarkable job capturing the intimacy, the honesty, the inspiration and the music of “Springsteen on Broadway.” His film honors the show’s spirit without engaging in any fussy camera work, backstage interviews or other behind-the-scenes material. ... It’s just Springsteen and his words, which, as in his songs, is often effusive, visually evocative and emotionally charged.

The power of Springsteen’s show radiates from the screen, seizing the viewer with its sincerity.

It’s a surprisingly meta presentation, at times feeling like as much of a storytelling workshop as a musical autobiography. The parts where Springsteen highlights the difference between the stories that he’s known for telling and who he actually is are the most revealing sections, more frank and unadorned than the genuinely affectionate yet blatantly mythologized portraits of his father, his mother, his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, and his longtime wife and bandmate Patti Scialfa, who briefly joins him onstage.

Springsteen’s attempts to conjure up a spell, while they probably worked on the stage, are constantly shattered by Thom Zimny’s cuts and disengaged zooms.