The Many Saints of Newark
WARNER BROSThe Sopranos is arguably the greatest piece of television that was ever created and forever changed the landscape of how television shows are aestheticised and presented long after its infamous and controversial series finale, Made in America, ended with a quick cut to black – transforming the structure of a “series finale” by completely dismantling any pre-conceived structure that came before. This influence and precedent are what David Chase and co have to better, and it is a testament to that few would even attempt to conquer.
It was inevitable, even if show creator David Chase initially did not want to do it, that the world of the DiMeo crime family would be explored in other pieces of media, and fifteen years after The Sopranos ended, it would seem the creator of the transcending franchise would have his wish. Nevertheless, The Many Saints of Newark is finally here and graces both the big and small screen simultaneously, releasing both theatrically and on demand with HBO Max.
The film explores the mythic character of Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), the father of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), who narrates this story. Dickie is in the midst of a gang war between his family and Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.) who creates his own crime family in Newark and wants to take control of organised crime in New Jersey. This not only takes a toll on Dickie, but also on Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini), a prospective varsity athlete growing up amidst racial tensions in New Jersey, who is slowly but surely becoming aware of secretive operations regarding Dickie and his father (Jon Bernthal), a capo in Hollywood Dick’s (Ray Liotta) crew.
For those that imagined The Many Saints of Newark would be a prequel film focusing solely on Tony Soprano’s rise in the New Jersey outfit, prepare to be disappointed. In fact, Soprano is more of a side character than anything else and likely the least important player of the entire film, albeit the beating heart. Lots of parallels can be made from Young Tony to Anthony Jr. (Robert Iler) in the show. AJ throws away a promising career in high school sports while acting delinquent with his friends. There is a reason why Adult Tony (James Gandolfini) sees so much in AJ, it’s because he was AJ, whether it’s stealing an ice cream truck for the kick, smoking as a child, or trying to buy alcohol underage, it’s that type of delinquency that forced Tony to become a part of the “family business” and throw away his chances at getting a fresh life without getting his hands dirty.
Michael Gandolfini is the spitting image of his father, and while the character of Tony feels extremely underused here, Gandolfini more than makes the most of his screen time. A sequence in which he argues with the school’s Guidance Counselor foreshadows many of the conversations he’ll have with his therapist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) in the show, and the way he looks at his counselor is the exact same type of acting his father did in The Sopranos. James Gandolfini perfected the art of juggling multiple emotions during the same scene in the most natural way possible, and Michael completely follows in his father’s footsteps here. Michael never tries to do a pale imitation of his father, and instead decides to show how Tony was as a brooding teenager instead. He is not the same as he was as the boss of the DiMeo crime family, but his behaviour will slowly get him to where audience already know him in the show, with forewarning sequences usually utilised to craft such connective symmetry.
It’s a shame, however, that Michael Gandolfini is not in the feature to a larger degree and that Chase would rather focus on Dickie instead of Tony. Dickie might have “made” who Tony became, but since sequences with Tony are so sparse, access to his coming-of-age transformation feels very limited, even if he shares terrific screntime with Nivola, who gives the best performance of his entire career. It seems like every role Nivola chose led up to play Dickie Moltisanti, and he chews up every single ounce he gets with Ray Liotta (who has a double role as Dickie’s father and twin brother), Corey Stoll’s Uncle Junior, and the cosplay versions of Silvio Dante (John Magaro), Paulie Walnuts (Billy Magnussen) and Big Pussy Bonpensiero (Samson Moeakiola).
None of the side characters from established Sopranos lore – with the exception of Tony, Livia, and Johnny – have any place in this feature and only seem to be there for die-hard fans to point at the screen and say “I understood that reference” when Uncle June says “He doesn’t have the makings of a varsity athlete” when Tony speaks to Dickie on his football career or say “eyy oh!” in unison every time a character says it. It also doesn’t help that none of the impressions that Stoll, Magaro, Magnussen, and Moeakiola do are any good, as they try too hard to imitate Dominic Chianese, Steven Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, and Vincent Pastore, respectively, instead of bringing their own spin on the characters. Of course, none of their traits should be sacrificed, but a carbon imitation almost never works, and all it does is resulting in unfair comparisons between the original actors and the new ones.
Opposite to that, the reason why Vera Farmiga and Jon Bernthal are excellent in The Many Saints of Newark as Livia and Johnny is down to the fact that they don’t try to imitate Nancy Marchand or Joseph Siravo. Livia is younger and livelier than Marchand was in the series – she feels more reminiscent of Carmela here than Young Livia – but she shares the same traits as Marchand had in the series: bitter, paranoid, and nonchalantly angry whenever Tony gets in trouble. Bernthal seems more composed as Johnny than Siravo was in the series. Johnny is more erratic and abusive in the series, while the film only hints of what audiences already know instead of purely showing it. Bernthal is a character in need of more screen-time, as Bernthal seems to be continually one of the most under-appreciated actors working today, but it does not matter to a devastating degree since he and Gandolfini completely steal the minimal time they have on screen.
As The Many Saints of Newark gets lost in its commentary on racial tensions and the riots of 1967 and does not necessarily know what it wants to say on Dickie Moltisanti or any of the other characters, there is the feeling that the film feels like a backdoor pilot for a potential HBO Max series more than anything else, which will likely happen since David Chase has signed on with WarnerMedia for a five-year deal to develop film and television projects for WB’s diverse platforms. The backdoor pilot feeling gets exacerbated when the film’s look feels very televisual, with known Sopranos veteran Alan Taylor helming the movie. None of the cinematography feels visually enticing or primed for a cinematic look. Instead, the lens feels quite blurry and murky at times and never creates any visually exciting sequences to look at, compared to the show’s boundary pushing aesthetics, which brought a cinematic look and feel to television.
Some of Chase’s potential projects may not be Sopranos related, but there’s this aching feeling that more needs to be told since The Many Saints of Newark barely scratches the surface on who truly made Tony Soprano. Dickie might have had an influence on Tony’s life and path as a troubled teenager, but pieces of the puzzle feel missing. Here’s hoping that this won’t be Chase’s last exploration of the DiMeo crime family, and that a new film – or series – will come on our screens sooner than later.