The Many Saints of Newark

The poster for The Many Saints of Newark asks "Who Made Tony Soprano?", and series fans may be a bit disappointed that Tony is not the central focus of the long-awaited film prequel to The Sopranos TV series.  Rather, the focus is on an important figure in his life, and that person's influence on him as a young man that led to where we saw him as the series began.  

Fans may also be somewhat disappointed by the somewhat cluttered and disorganized storytelling on display here.  The screenplay by series creator David Chase (who co-wrote it with Lawrence Konner) tries to cram a lot into a two hour time frame, and perhaps was not used to the time restrictions that a feature film provides over a series of episodes.  He does his best with what he's been given, and the performances on display are as strong as they were on the show, so there is plenty to admire here.  At the center of it all is the excellent lead performance by Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti, the father to one of the main characters from the show.  This movie takes us back to the time period of the late 60s and early 70s, where Tony Soprano was growing up, and idolized Dickie as not just a father figure, but also someone to follow and emulate.

We're introduced to Dickie when he is at the top of the Mob World, and dealing with a number of issues in his personal life.  There's the issue with his father (Ray Liotta), having just recently married a much younger Italian woman (Michela De Rossi), and brings her to America to be his trophy wife.  He's also slowly starting to watch his influence slip away a little in the crime world, as a young black man who initially works under him named Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom, Jr.) eventually decides that he doesn't want to work for a white mob boss, and creates his own crime network that violently clashes with Dickie's.  All of this is observed by a young Tony, first as a child where he is played by William Ludwig, and later as a teen by Michael Gandolfini.  With his father (Jon Bernthal) in prison, and his mother (an excellent Vera Farmiga) always on his case about something, it's not surprising to learn that the kid is drawn into Dickie's world that is seemingly comprised of control, money and respect.

And these are just the main plots that The Many Saints of Newark tries to cover.  The movie also wants to hint at future developments that fans can recognize, touch on race riots and relations, focus on Dickie feeling genuine remorse for some of his more violent actions during the course of the film, and wanting to "do good" in order to make up for them, show some of Tony's early attempts at crime or organized gambling, leading to multiple school suspensions, and talk about the politically and heavily charged time period that the story is set.  To say that the screenplay has a lot on its plate would be an understatement, and while it's not always successful at balancing all these plots and ideas, the resolutions to them are quite successful, and I found myself attached to these characters and performances.  They are what drew me through any shortcomings, and the movie has been beautifully shot, with more than a few standout performances.

The one that is sure to resonate with most fans is that of Michael Gandolfini as the teenage Tony Soprano.  While casting the son of the original actor in the role sounds like a bad example of stunt casting, he is able to create a believable portrayal of a young man who is drawn into a world he actually knows little about.  We watch him evolve to a young kid who is quite curious about the world around him, and slowly evolves into the man that he will become.  He starts out small with arranging a small gambling ring with some of his fellow students at school, but before long, he's lifting an ice cream truck.  The movie is smart to play up the somewhat tragic trajectory of the character, and the audience is forced to just helplessly watch.

But it is Moltisanti as Dickie who rightfully makes and carries the film.  We get to see some shocking bouts of violence and anger within the man, but we also get to see the charming side that makes people want to follow him, as well as the personal struggles that he feels about his actions.  We get to see how the guilt slowly eats away at him, and how he genuinely does want to be a positive influence on his community, but he is probably beyond hope  In one of his late scenes in the film, he breaks down crying at his desk at work for reasons that will not be stated here, and it's the heartbreaking topper to the character's arc.  Also good are the various scenes where he visits his uncle in prison (also Ray Liotta, in a dual role).  The figure of the uncle and his relationship with Dickie is fascinating, because the uncle is in prison for murder, yet acts as kind of a moral compass, having made the kind of mistakes Dickie is currently making, and trying desperately to make him see.

It's these elements and performances that make The Many Saints of Newark worth watching, and why I'm recommending it, despite its obvious flaws.  It still has the performances and emotional power that fans remember, and in it's own way, it's quite compelling.  You just wish they had more time to tell this story in smaller segments like before.

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