Serving as a belated prequel to the lauded mobster themed crime-family drama television series "The Sopranos" (which concluded in 2007), "The many saints of Newark" purports to explain how the anti-hero of that series, mob boss Tony Soprano, came to be the man that he is. After the film had ended, I wouldn't have said that it did this at all. The poster for this film asks the question "Who made Tony Soprano"? Perhaps the word "made" acts as a pun, by suggesting the mafia connotation, as in "made man". In any case, nothing that I saw on the screen suggested to me that the main character of this film, Dickie Moltisanti (played by Alessandro Nivola), "made" Tony Soprano, in any sense of the word. For most of the film, Tony Soprano is a peripheral character, either as a young boy, then a teenager, although he does become more prominent later in the film.
My main gripe with this film is that I found knowing who these characters were or how they related to each other was difficult. Looking up on Wikipedia the date on which the series concluded (at least in the US) might explain that. If I knew the character names from the TV series, I had long since forgotten them. Maybe the film does make an effort to help you in that regard. The film starts by using a narrative device used in the film "American beauty" but I didn't end up linking the narrator's voice to any character in the film. Well, actually I did but I just linked it to the wrong person, Dickie Moltisanti (edit in: well, looks like I didn't, going on the article on this film in The Age's Green Guide liftout, 02/12/2021. Still, I just found this aspect confusing here in a way that I didn't for the film "American beauty"). Is the narrator actually seen in the film? Perhaps the film assumed too much familiarity with characters and events in the TV series? In any case, I was mostly lost as to who these people were. At least with a television series you can get to know characters over an extended period of time and have at least a slight sense of where they fit into the big picture. Since I saw this film in a cinema, I didn't have the luxury of pausing or rewinding the film to clarify what was happening, so I just reluctantly went with the narrator being Dickie. By contrast, at least it was clear what was happening in "American beauty" when the same narrative device was being used.
The story concerns the family life of Dickie Moltisanti, in both the traditional and Mafia sense of the word "family". He is the uncle (uncle?) of Tony Soprano, hence they often interact with each other. You get a sense of what kinds of criminal activity Dickie conducts to make his money and...for other reasons. There is one particularly gruesome torture scene and one sex scene where you see a woman's bare breasts but otherwise it's not a particularly bloody assault on the senses. When you see young Tony Soprano and teenage Tony Soprano, you can see a family resemblance with James Gandolfini, who played Tony in the TV series...perhaps more for the younger Tony, perversely.
The film seems set in the 1960s and extends into the 1970s, I think. One aspect of it which did surprise me was the prominence of African Americans in the drama (I can't remember there being much, if anything, of this in the TV series). Not being American, I can't say whether the scenes of race riots and carnage depicted in Newark has some basis in actual events. It was sort of amusing to see significant black mobsters dressed like pimps (I assume, based on my knowledge of old US TV shows!). Maybe they really did dress like that? I don't know.
Returning to my earlier point about this film not really explaining how Tony Soprano was made (disregarding any ambiguity about the poster's line, as in on one reading it suggests that the film is not about Tony but on another reading it's nothing but about him), well, I suppose that I would ask the question: if Tony's father had spent more time at home, would things have been any different for Tony? I don't think so. In other words, I don't think that any one person "made" Tony Soprano. He grew up surrounded by criminals, what did you expect him to become?
Going back to my earlier point about not knowing who the people in the film were, well, actually, sometimes my recollection of the TV series was triggered. For instance, I remembered that Tony had a sister in the series and I'm pretty sure that I remember what she looked like. That recollection came to me during the film. After watching the film, I remembered Tony's mum from the series and I think I recall what she looked and acted like there too. All this makes me think that maybe the film could have done a better job at placing the characters or reminding us of how this all links back to the TV series? One odd impression that I got from this film was...just about every other female character in the film reminded me of Edie Falco, who played Tony's wife, Carmela, in the TV series! I could have been watching "Being Edie Falco"!
Another moment of recognition came towards the end of the film, when I wondered if one character was such-and-such from the TV series and I'm pretty sure that he was...I think I have in mind the man who also played in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
My final moment of recognition came when I thought that one character kind of looked like an older version of that bloke from that great film about mobsters, "Goodfellas". Turns out there was a good reason for this resemblance!
I'd close this by suggesting that maybe it would be best to see this film if you have recently watched a lot of the original TV series which this film was based on. Maybe you would find it easier to follow than me?
My main gripe with this film is that I found knowing who these characters were or how they related to each other was difficult. Looking up on Wikipedia the date on which the series concluded (at least in the US) might explain that. If I knew the character names from the TV series, I had long since forgotten them. Maybe the film does make an effort to help you in that regard. The film starts by using a narrative device used in the film "American beauty" but I didn't end up linking the narrator's voice to any character in the film. Well, actually I did but I just linked it to the wrong person, Dickie Moltisanti (edit in: well, looks like I didn't, going on the article on this film in The Age's Green Guide liftout, 02/12/2021. Still, I just found this aspect confusing here in a way that I didn't for the film "American beauty"). Is the narrator actually seen in the film? Perhaps the film assumed too much familiarity with characters and events in the TV series? In any case, I was mostly lost as to who these people were. At least with a television series you can get to know characters over an extended period of time and have at least a slight sense of where they fit into the big picture. Since I saw this film in a cinema, I didn't have the luxury of pausing or rewinding the film to clarify what was happening, so I just reluctantly went with the narrator being Dickie. By contrast, at least it was clear what was happening in "American beauty" when the same narrative device was being used.
The story concerns the family life of Dickie Moltisanti, in both the traditional and Mafia sense of the word "family". He is the uncle (uncle?) of Tony Soprano, hence they often interact with each other. You get a sense of what kinds of criminal activity Dickie conducts to make his money and...for other reasons. There is one particularly gruesome torture scene and one sex scene where you see a woman's bare breasts but otherwise it's not a particularly bloody assault on the senses. When you see young Tony Soprano and teenage Tony Soprano, you can see a family resemblance with James Gandolfini, who played Tony in the TV series...perhaps more for the younger Tony, perversely.
The film seems set in the 1960s and extends into the 1970s, I think. One aspect of it which did surprise me was the prominence of African Americans in the drama (I can't remember there being much, if anything, of this in the TV series). Not being American, I can't say whether the scenes of race riots and carnage depicted in Newark has some basis in actual events. It was sort of amusing to see significant black mobsters dressed like pimps (I assume, based on my knowledge of old US TV shows!). Maybe they really did dress like that? I don't know.
Returning to my earlier point about this film not really explaining how Tony Soprano was made (disregarding any ambiguity about the poster's line, as in on one reading it suggests that the film is not about Tony but on another reading it's nothing but about him), well, I suppose that I would ask the question: if Tony's father had spent more time at home, would things have been any different for Tony? I don't think so. In other words, I don't think that any one person "made" Tony Soprano. He grew up surrounded by criminals, what did you expect him to become?
Going back to my earlier point about not knowing who the people in the film were, well, actually, sometimes my recollection of the TV series was triggered. For instance, I remembered that Tony had a sister in the series and I'm pretty sure that I remember what she looked like. That recollection came to me during the film. After watching the film, I remembered Tony's mum from the series and I think I recall what she looked and acted like there too. All this makes me think that maybe the film could have done a better job at placing the characters or reminding us of how this all links back to the TV series? One odd impression that I got from this film was...just about every other female character in the film reminded me of Edie Falco, who played Tony's wife, Carmela, in the TV series! I could have been watching "Being Edie Falco"!
Another moment of recognition came towards the end of the film, when I wondered if one character was such-and-such from the TV series and I'm pretty sure that he was...I think I have in mind the man who also played in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
My final moment of recognition came when I thought that one character kind of looked like an older version of that bloke from that great film about mobsters, "Goodfellas". Turns out there was a good reason for this resemblance!
I'd close this by suggesting that maybe it would be best to see this film if you have recently watched a lot of the original TV series which this film was based on. Maybe you would find it easier to follow than me?