Bruce Springsteen’s latest album Letter To You is accompanied by another film from frequent collaborator Thom Zimny available to stream via Apple TV and it is a must for all fans of The Boss. 

This time last year I was singing the praises of Western Stars. A concert movie for the prolific Springsteen’s latest masterpiece. This film is different in two ways. Firstly Western Stars was a concert movie. The finished article delivered in an intimate performance. Letter To You follows Springsteen and the E Street Band recording the album in the studio and then finding the music. Both feature interludes between songs that give more detail to how they came to be. Secondly and more personal to me is that I had already heard the Western Stars album multiple times before I walked into the cinema to watch the film, where as this film was my first listen of these new songs giving it a whole new dynamic. 

The film opens with Springsteen giving a soliloquy on his 45 year conversation with his collaborators and us and will instantly decide whether this film is for you. For me his voice is soulful and his opening gambit filled with searing truth, honesty and poetry. For others it will be pretentious and overly earnest. If you fall in the latter group then I can safely say you may struggle with the interludes between songs.

We will find out over the course of the film that these songs are a meditation on the fact that Bruce is now the last surviving member of the first rock band he was in. Between 1965-1968 he was a member of The Castilles and this film is dedicated to them. 

The songs are soulful, melancholy and uplifting. The interludes an insight into Springsteen’s thought process and the black and white imagery accompanying them beautiful. Best of all there is footage of the band recording music across the 45 years they have been together really emphasising the theme of the album.

If you haven’t treated yourself to Springsteen’s music before this isn’t a bad place to start.