Directed By Alan Taylor

Starring – Michael Gandolfini, Alessandro Nivola, Vera Farmiga

The Plot – Young Anthony Soprano (Gandolfini) is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark’s history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s hold over the increasingly race-torn city. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), who struggles to manage both his professional and personal responsibilities and whose influence over his nephew will help make the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss we’ll later come to know: Tony Soprano.

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content and some nudity

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK – Official Trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

– Authenticity. Especially considering that fourteen years have passed since the final episode of “The Sopranos” aired on HBO, this is a surprisingly enriching return to form in both a technical and structural level that pays off immensely for the integrity of this prequel. The timely visuals of diversified neighborhoods in and around Newark is illustrated beautifully with a grainy color coordination and tremendous production design that transports us seamlessly to evidence of the particular age. Vintage vehicles, dated wardrobe choices, and especially three-dimensional set designs in everything from households to store shops, supplants it with a fresh breath of lived-in believability, and one that transfers to the big screen terrifically for all of its decoration. As for the storytelling structure, “The Many Saints of Newark” isn’t paced like a conventional cinematic experience, and instead feels like a prolonged episode of its television counterpart, on everything from timely musical cues, to long-winded dialogue, to especially an open-ended finale that could easily serve as the beginning to another iconic series by HBO, should they choose to further fill in the gaps of Tony’s initial steps to the crime underworld.

– No limitations. I myself have never watched a single episode of “The Sopranos”, so I was curious to see if my lack of knowledge would hinder my engagement to the film, and was met with mostly pleasant results. Sure, there are certainly a few references alluding to a much bigger picture, but the script from David Chase and Lawrence Konner does more than a thorough job of inviting us into this world with an abundance of colorful characters, all the while outlining enough social commentary for the time period in interracial relations that I’m told wasn’t as prominent with its TV counterpart. Not only was I able to follow along faithfully throughout two hours of character beats and interjecting subplots, but I also feel that “The Many Saints of Newark” on its own merits cements a gritty and engaging mob story on its own merits, and one that doesn’t require it to stand in the shadow of its predecessor, in order to shield itself from the glow of ambitious expectations.

– Unabashed sampling. I’ve been told for a lifetime that “The Sopranos” changed the capabilities of network television, and in my experience with this film it’s certainly easy to see why. Blessing a film with an R-rating simply isn’t enough, but rather what a film is able to capture in such a designation. For this film, the violence is certainly there, but I was a bit surprised that it’s not the single most defining feature for the material. That honor would instead go to the dialogue, which is viciously laced with various four letter words and stern conviction to the level of me feeling like I was on the opposite side of each of their viciously emphasized deliveries. Finally, we’re also treated to some tasteful examples of sex and nudity, as seen in two sequences that not only don’t feel stretched out for the sake of exploitation, but also shoot matters in a tasteful manner that simultaneously captures the love in between the boundaries of overwhelming lust.

– Intimate moments. It says a lot about a show-turned-film when the moments of levity in between these gut-wrenching shootouts and race riot wars equate to some of the most substantially rewarding sequences throughout the entire film. A lot of the thanks goes to the personable dialogue that Chase and Konnor craft accordingly, which fleshes out an allowance of vulnerability and humanity to the protagonists, that goes a long way in balancing the heaviness of their brutal acts of physicality, which would typically make them irredeemable in a poorly helmed feature. Those moments of downtime in between also help to articulate the importance of family that hangs in the balance so delicately between these many interacting dynamics. It proves that even beyond all of the violence, sex, and dramatic intensity there’s a value of heart that encompasses each of them tenfold, conjuring the charms in its material that proves this series has been about so much more than just envelope-pushing brutality.

– Fearless framing. In what could easily be make or break for many audiences who were led astray from questionable marketing, the film surprisingly casts Tony as a supporting character in a film pertaining to his origins. Why I think this works as a benefit to the movie’s creativity is because Tony himself is not a criminal when we first meet him, so a story revolving around just this would be boring to say the least, for two excruciating hours. Instead, it’s essentially a story about Dickie Moltisanti, the man who not only elevated the stakes and urgency within the DiMeo crime family, but also the same man who influenced Tony’s future aspirations. It slowly brings Tony along to being the main character of the film by its riveting climax, allowing him to step in the shoes of destiny by conjuring up a role model figure in Dickie, whose own evolving greed is the defining feature so prominently displayed to Tony’s appeal of him. He’s very much the uncle-turned-father figure who filled the gap for what was missing in a prominent father figure in Tony’s life, and because of such inspired him to be the force to be reckoned with, whom we eventually come to know as Tony Soprano.

– Balanced chops. The work of this gifted ensemble deserves an entire review in itself, but for my money the bulk of the compelling captivation belongs to that of the three leads listed above, but also in Ray Liotta, who hands in his best work in decades. Liotta’s on-screen presence is enhanced with a gripping intensity that forces you to hang on his very own, affording him several scenes where he nearly steals the show, with only around twenty minutes of actual screen time at his disposal. Farmiga disappears into the role as Tony’s erratic mother, Livia, accentuating a stern vocal range and unnerving glares that prove this is anything but a boys night out, proving that the Soprano women are just as imposing when given the proper circumstance. As for Nivola, the charm and image for success that he constantly permeates within himself conjure up a magnetism and endless charisma that not only make him the ideal protagonist to this story, but also one whose ferocity can’t be overlooked by the defining characteristics that hide-but-don’t-dilute his momentary ferocity. Finally, the elements of a family first engagement takes an art immitating life surrealness, with 22-year-old Michael Gandolfini serving as the only man who could’ve even attempted to fill his father’s immense shoes. Michael’s emotional depth and naturalistic timing are certainly years ahead of his minimal amount of screen experience, but it’s really the mirroring to his father in manneurisms and bodily contortion that are most astonishing, bringing James back to life one more time, and emoted through the child that he gave life. Truly poetic.

NEGATIVES

– Overstuffed tiers. While I previously commended the film for including many elements of focus to distribute among its two hour run time, the results and resolutions of such leave plenty more to be desired in a disjointed execution. Most especially for this section is the subplot pertaining to Leslie Odom Jr and the black rebellion, which feels dramatically underscored in focus, all the while leading to a pay-off that never materializes. Aside from this, the editing itself doesn’t build these layers simultaneously to the point that they’re constantly unraveling even in the context of other scenes not pertaining to it. Because of such, we’re often stuck with a particular subplot for the lengthy investment, which it doesn’t pull away from until it has reached the moments needed to transition to the next scene, forcefully. This obviously leads to moments where tedious boredom does occasionally set in, as a result of redundancy, and while the the black voice is monumentally more important than the intimacies inside of this family, the lack of time deposited to such tells a completely different reality, unfortunately.

– Glaring distractions. With questionable choices of production made in both the prosthetics and casting departments, there were more than a few occasions when my investment to the film broke, leading me to rethink the reality of certain characters who were literally in front of the screen during such a gaffe. Deviation is realized in Farmiga’s character design, who is given a nose prosthetic that is so big and obvious that it not only made me unintentionally laugh each time she popped into camera view, but also served as a slight against Italians that would feel culturally insensitive in any film with any culture or race that it unfortunately adorned. I can understand that Farmiga is trying to emulate the likeness of a previous actress from the TV show, but for my money the right, and less distracting, move would’ve been to let her play it naturally with her own facial features. In addition to this, Liotta and Soprano’s regular, Joey Diaz, are given double duty as a set of twins to their respective visual identities. This is confusing enough when done with one actor, but doing it with two here leads to frustrating levels of memory lapses that often distorted my view, while pointing to a tired cliche in TV history that serves as a convenience to productions not able to say goodbye to certain actors.

– Bland direction. To me, it feels like something bigger was missing in the overall helming of this picture, and I feel like I might have figured it out. Considering this is a movie based on a TV show, the lack of expression or ambition with respect to its cinematography waters down the execution, and leaves an emptiness to the exploration that leaves this feeling like a shell to what has been labeled as one of the greatest television shows of all time. Because this is crafted for the big screen, I feel like there was a chance to enhance action sequences with contemporary technological advances, all in a way that would’ve breathed new life into what is at least technically an outdated franchise. With some longer takes, or fluid movement in cinematography, I feel like it could’ve let some of these action sequences breathe the air of inspiration needed to boost their appeal, and allow Taylor the escape route of transcending a direction that, by all merits, remains too faithful to its television encompassing.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-