THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK
****
Director: Alan Taylor
Screenwriter: David Chase & Lawrence Konner, based on characters created by David Chase.
Principal cast:
Alessandro Nivola
Leslie Odom Jr.
John Bernthal
Vera Farmiga
Ray Liotta
Michael Gandolfini
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 120 mins.
Australian release date: 4 November 2021.
Promoted with the strapline ‘Who Made Tony Soprano’, The Many Saints of Newark is indeed a prequel to the world-changing HBO series The Sopranos, but it also much more than a mere introduction to Tony (magnificently played in the series by the late James Gandolfini and here, incredibly, by his son Michael). The film is set in 1967, at a time when there were race riots in Newark, New Jersey, caused by the beating of a Black man by white police (plus ça change …) and tension between the African-American and Italian-American communities, with the riots forming the backdrop to a lot of the action. Sopranos’ creator David Chase and Larry Konner, who wrote for the TV series too, have combined their talents to come up with a rich, layered screenplay that incorporates multiple interconnected storylines. The good news is that you don’t have to have seen The Sopranos to appreciate this terrific movie however, it must be said that if you have, you’ll get more enjoyment from it. Many of the characters will be familiar to fans, even though played by other actors; the casting is excellent and these younger versions of men and women we know from the series have all the same flaws and mannerisms of their older selves.
As The Many Saints of Newark opens, we hear the familiar voice of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) bringing us up to speed with la famiglia. Chris was murdered in the series and he’s only a new-born in the film, so it’s an interesting device but, somehow, it works. We meet Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola, fantastic), a soldier in the DiMeo crime family, his father ‘Hollywood Dick’ (Ray Liotta), and fellow mobsters Johnny (Jon Bernthal) and Junior Soprano (Corey Stoll). And, of course, there’s Dickie’s nephew, young Tony Soprano, who’s still in school and a bit of a tear-away but who wants to play professional football in the future. When his dad Johnny goes to gaol, he is taken under Dickie’s wing and the pair form a strong and loving bond. The action then leaps forward four years, when Johnny gets out of the slammer just as African-American gangster Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.) is setting up his own crime operation in Newark, now largely a Black suburb, and you know that lead and fists are gonna fly. There’s more, much more, to the story and a wealth of subordinate characters that all have their moment to shine – one of the best is Ray Liotta in a dual role as Hollywood Dick’s twin brother, Sally, who becomes a kind of father-confessor to Dickie, even while serving 25 years in the pen. His advice to Dickie is to “stay out of [Tony’s] life” but it’s advice that will only work so far.
Director Alan Taylor, another alumnus of The Sopranos, has done most of his work for television but he has a well-developed cinematic eye and The Many Saints of Newark is big in every way: the street scenes of the riots are almost as powerful as those we saw in the remarkable Oscar-winning Roma a few years ago. His production values and sense of mise-en-scène are outstanding. He’s also got a great ear for music and his use of songs from the period greatly add to the film’s ambience. The performances are uniformly top-drawer: there’s not one actor who who’s badly cast or unconvincing, so you are completely drawn into this mob world, as you were with the TV series. That’s easier to do in a long-form series, not so easy in two hours, but Taylor has pulled it off. Many Saints is one of those movies you don’t want to end when the lights go up. The brilliant final scene leaves you in no doubt as to where young Tony is heading. It made this reviewer want to go back to the first series of The Sopranos and start watching it all over again.
Screenwriter: David Chase & Lawrence Konner, based on characters created by David Chase.
Principal cast:
Alessandro Nivola
Leslie Odom Jr.
John Bernthal
Vera Farmiga
Ray Liotta
Michael Gandolfini
Country: USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 120 mins.
Australian release date: 4 November 2021.
Promoted with the strapline ‘Who Made Tony Soprano’, The Many Saints of Newark is indeed a prequel to the world-changing HBO series The Sopranos, but it also much more than a mere introduction to Tony (magnificently played in the series by the late James Gandolfini and here, incredibly, by his son Michael). The film is set in 1967, at a time when there were race riots in Newark, New Jersey, caused by the beating of a Black man by white police (plus ça change …) and tension between the African-American and Italian-American communities, with the riots forming the backdrop to a lot of the action. Sopranos’ creator David Chase and Larry Konner, who wrote for the TV series too, have combined their talents to come up with a rich, layered screenplay that incorporates multiple interconnected storylines. The good news is that you don’t have to have seen The Sopranos to appreciate this terrific movie however, it must be said that if you have, you’ll get more enjoyment from it. Many of the characters will be familiar to fans, even though played by other actors; the casting is excellent and these younger versions of men and women we know from the series have all the same flaws and mannerisms of their older selves.
As The Many Saints of Newark opens, we hear the familiar voice of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) bringing us up to speed with la famiglia. Chris was murdered in the series and he’s only a new-born in the film, so it’s an interesting device but, somehow, it works. We meet Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola, fantastic), a soldier in the DiMeo crime family, his father ‘Hollywood Dick’ (Ray Liotta), and fellow mobsters Johnny (Jon Bernthal) and Junior Soprano (Corey Stoll). And, of course, there’s Dickie’s nephew, young Tony Soprano, who’s still in school and a bit of a tear-away but who wants to play professional football in the future. When his dad Johnny goes to gaol, he is taken under Dickie’s wing and the pair form a strong and loving bond. The action then leaps forward four years, when Johnny gets out of the slammer just as African-American gangster Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.) is setting up his own crime operation in Newark, now largely a Black suburb, and you know that lead and fists are gonna fly. There’s more, much more, to the story and a wealth of subordinate characters that all have their moment to shine – one of the best is Ray Liotta in a dual role as Hollywood Dick’s twin brother, Sally, who becomes a kind of father-confessor to Dickie, even while serving 25 years in the pen. His advice to Dickie is to “stay out of [Tony’s] life” but it’s advice that will only work so far.
Director Alan Taylor, another alumnus of The Sopranos, has done most of his work for television but he has a well-developed cinematic eye and The Many Saints of Newark is big in every way: the street scenes of the riots are almost as powerful as those we saw in the remarkable Oscar-winning Roma a few years ago. His production values and sense of mise-en-scène are outstanding. He’s also got a great ear for music and his use of songs from the period greatly add to the film’s ambience. The performances are uniformly top-drawer: there’s not one actor who who’s badly cast or unconvincing, so you are completely drawn into this mob world, as you were with the TV series. That’s easier to do in a long-form series, not so easy in two hours, but Taylor has pulled it off. Many Saints is one of those movies you don’t want to end when the lights go up. The brilliant final scene leaves you in no doubt as to where young Tony is heading. It made this reviewer want to go back to the first series of The Sopranos and start watching it all over again.