“Fan movies” run a fine line. No matter the film, studios are concerned with making movies that can appeal to as many people as possible. It is why it is getting harder to make movies based on original stories. Adaptations and franchises have established brands with fanbases to market their movies. Still, they are always looking for ways to bring in fresh audiences. Filmmakers have to choose where on the demographic spectrum they are aiming for: the diehards or the newcomers.
It is why movies like The Many Saints of Newark are a hard sell to those who have not committed to all six seasons of the Sopranos. The HBO classic follows the tale of Tony Soprano, the mob boss of a New Jersey mafia family. In some ways, Saints is an origin film for the show’s main character. However, the movie primarily focuses on Dickey Moltisanti as the main subject, Tony’s uncle who passed away before the beginning of the show. Here, we see the supposed “Golden Age” of the mafia that Tony is always reminiscing about: an era before his time.
I can’t say for sure how newcomers will treat this movie. The closest opinion I have been able to find is Jeremy Jahn’s review, who only watched the first season and still enjoyed it. I still say for those who have not watched the Sopranos in its entirety, this is not a film I recommend. The main and side plots are still enjoyable. Those who come from this camp will get an interesting mob film about a man wrestling with his profession and morality and how it affects his relationship with his family and friends. The movie is gorgeously shot, some scenes breathtaking.
Still, I think these viewers will judge the standalone experience as a subpar gangster film when compared to the likes of the genre’s heavy hitters, notably Goodfellas and the Godfather. For those audiences, the missing context will surely take away from how good this movie truly is.
For the rest of you who have watched the entirety of the show and understand just how powerful it is, this movie is a love letter to all of you. There are many homages to the show, with direct references to certain events and stories of the past that further enrich the world of Tony Soprano.
Dickey Moltisanti, played by Alessandro Nivola, is a compelling character with a reputation that proceeds himself. In the Sopranos, Dickey is talked about with a certain reverence, an old school gangster that is a prime example of a “made man” in the eyes of Tony. He is a part of the ruthless world of organized crime but Dickey also has concerns about the nature of his criminal culture and how it affects him as a person. After killing his father, Dick (played by the legendary Ray Liotta), over his abusive behavior toward his young stepmother, he spends the movie trying to atone for his sins. Rather than look toward the Catholic faith, he turns to his father’s long incarcerated brother, Sally (also played by Liotta).
Casting Liotta in both roles is nothing short of brilliant. Liotta plays the duality of the roles with an equal sense of narrative duality that requires a lot of skill. As opposed to Dick’s violent arrogance, Sally is an introspective if grumpy lifer. Having been in prison since he was 25 for killing a made man, Sal has become a sort of ex-mafia turned monk living in isolation. He is wise after gaining time and distance from the lifestyle and acts as a voice of reason. In a way, he fills in the therapeutic shoes of Dr. Melfi from the original show. The dynamic that Dickey has with his father and uncle brings back the psychoanalytic element that is an integral part of Tony’s story.
The similar struggles of Dickey and Tony are not a simple rehash of themes. The young Tony Soprano played by James Gandolfini’s son, Michael Gandolfini, looks to Dickey as a father figure, one his own father is incompetent to fill. As an origin story, this is about one of Tony’s personal role models and how their relationship and history shape him as the ruthless mob boss. It is interesting to see how much Tony has inherited from Dickey. Traits, ideals, blessings, and curses. This influence is part of the main draw for me. Thinking about the relationship between the show and the movie is rife with Easter eggs for fans, further contextualizing Tony’s character. Fans should have much to enjoy as they dissect the film and search for connections as they revisit the show.
The film’s cinematography also enhances the experience, reflecting Tony’s adulation for both Dickey and the era that he roamed the streets. Each frame is crisp, capturing a soft, idyllic image even during the most brutal of times. The lights of the streets and the sun have a certain warmth to them. Perhaps, this is simply the increased budget of a Hollywood film but I think that would be dismissive. After all, the Sopranos itself is considered the godfather of modern television, pioneering mature and quality storytelling in terms of both writing and production value. No, this is cinematography captures the cognitive dissonance of Tony’s idealized view of the past and the harsh reality about the true nature of the mafia lifestyle.
Speaking of Easter Eggs, there is much in the way of fan service for diehards. The casting in particular is handled with reverence, all of the actors playing their television counterparts with grace. They have replicated the speech, mannerisms, and stylings of Livia, Sylvio, and especially Corrado (actor Corey Stoll perfectly recaptures Junior’s colorful vocabulary and inflections).
Michael Gandolfini as a young Tony Soprano is probably the most publicized casting of the film. Originally played by his late father, Gandolfini plays the pre-boss years with familiarity while adding a childhood innocence to the character. Here, he is a teenager getting into trouble. While his teachers acknowledge his high intelligence, his family seems to discredit everything about his hopes and dreams. All except for Dickey. We see Tony running novel and childish versions of the schemes his family runs and we see both the brilliance and naivety. It adds a meta-narrative element that I can’t help but further elevates the film to greatness. It also helps that Gandolfini looks so much like his father.
This last point might seem to be a weak argument for the film’s quality. However, I was more than a simple critique when I watched the movie in theatres. I was a fan. More than anything, this movie is an example of what a fan movie should be. It honors the original show and rewards those who have a deep appreciation for the source material.
The audience I watched it with reflected this. The new Venom movie was also playing that night. I am sure that those who watched it also enjoyed it. However, I can’t imagine they had the same resonating experience as I did. From the start, comic book movies have been designed to use the source material to make films for a broader, new demographic. It might explain why some comic fans find these movies to be somewhat hollow. That night, the theatre for this film was far from a full house but I preferred it that way. We all watched with a certain intensity, taking in every moment as we did the show.
I knew that after the lights went on as the credits rolled that The Many Saints of Newark was made for me and all of those who love the Sopranos. I couldn’t exactly articulate why I loved it at the time and wondered if my opinion was based on the biased love of the show. Perhaps, it still is. Yet, I am still thinking about the movie days later, even considering watching it again on HBO MAX. The more I think about it, the more I find to love it.
Danger Wonka 