The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

The Sopranos is probably my second favourite television series of all time, only behind The Wire (obviously). In terms of spin off movies, of the two, The Sopranos is the one you could always imagining having a two-hour story to tell. Any sort of The Wire movie spin off, however much I try to envisage it doesn’t work in my head. The decision to create a prequel to The Sopranos, and casting James Galdolfini’s son Michael, as a younger version of his Father’s Tony Sopranos was a bold move. It’s wonderful to reveal then, that Michael does a superb job of capturing the essence of his Father. It’s a particularly difficult job because not only he is a recreating the character that his Father portrayed; he’s playing a much younger version of that character. The Many Saints Of Newark isn’t primarily concerned with Tony Soprano though; we know that the film will probably culminate in some sort of fan pay off in respect of Tony, but the actual focus of the film, is Richard ‘Dickie’ Moltisanti, father of Christopher Moltisanti who fans will know immediately. If any of you haven’t seen The Sopranos and plan to, I would advise halting your reading right here. The film opens with a voice over by Christopher from beyond the grave setting the scene of 1967, initially. It’s hard to know what people who haven’t seen the series will get out of this; if you want a broader more rounded tale of the Italian Mafia in America there are of course some famous films out there. But it has to be said, for fans of The Sopranos, there’s a lot to enjoy here. The film does a great job of following the shows’ structure in feature form, and I have to say I was hugely impressed with the cast in capturing the ethos of their former (or rather future) family members. Vera Farmiga in particular is astonishing as Tony’s infamous Mother Olivia, and really shows you the roots of the character, cementing the origins of Olivia’s (and as a partial result Tony’s) volatility. Allesandro Nivola is eminently watchable as Dickie, a character we don’t know and who makes up the bulk of the film as such an influential and prominent figure in Tony’s life, able to talk to his figurative nephew while Tony’s Father Johnny often proves unapproachable. The film moves forward a few years after dealing with the Newark riots, as scary as they are important, and David Chase does a solid job of interweaving the story strands around the historical importance of the riots, also so prevalent in today’s society. In the second half of the film we begin to see more of Tony (played by Michael Gandolfini here) and his troubles at school and at home, and there are several touching scenes that you struggle to know what a newcomer would make of. The middle section of the film is a bit baggy, but for the most part this is an impressive filmic transfer of a much loved (by both fans and critics) series. No character comes out particularly well (or indeed alive) but that goes in line with the series; they are all essentially criminals. The ending bows down to a need to link it directly with the show, and you see it coming a mile off, but it’s also almost a necessity for the film, and as a fan it’s both very poignant and also impossible not to smile (and in some cases punch the air) as the last shot fades to the sounds of Alabama 3’s Woke Up This Morning……. 7.2/10