I thought THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK (now streaming on HBO MAX) was quite good, as good as maybe 90% of the original SOPRANOS episodes. It has the same episodic-within-episodes feel of the series; the narrative is modular and anecdotal rather than following a specific arc, so it feels more like Grade A- television than a classic feature - though there is no common theme within the individual subplots to be sussed out, as there often were for individual SOPRANOS episodes, unless it's maybe "men with mommy problems." Speaking of anecdotes, it's a treat to see some of the series' reminiscences presented here as they actually happened, and some of the actors cast as younger versions of beloved characters hit the nail right on the head. Best of all, no one understands how to use music better on television, or film, than David Chase - and there were musical selections and moments that made me want to stand up and applaud, like the teenage Tony blissing out to Mountain between two pulsing 10-inch woofered speakers, or the rising black hood Harold McBrayer (terrific performance by Leslie Odom, Jr.) awakening to his militant side at a Last Poets performance. The performances were terrific across the board, with Alessandro Nivola stealing the show as Dickie Moltisanti, and director Alan Taylor (who directed nine SOPRANOS episodes) stages the film beautifully, especially the race riots material and the scene where Dickie is passed through an Army barricade because he's white, even when a dead man riding shotgun. (There are a few moments in this that make us feel guilty for laughing - a small measure of the guilt felt by the myriad characters.) However, because this is an epic story compressed to just two hours (which is nothing in today's scheme of television drama), I must admit that the story's two most important "hits" felt muffled because the tension preceding them could not be stretched to the brink. Also, I have to add that Michael Gandolfini took me out of the film momentarily each time he appeared. It wasn't his resemblance to his father, or the fact that he is his father's son; it's that he's so consistently amiable. We never see Tony's demons anywhere in him, not even in embryo. He just seems too nice a kid to be getting up to the trouble he is getting into, bad role models or not. He's more menacing in this promotional shot than he is anywhere in the film, even when he's misbehaving. If it sounds like I have reservations, and I do, it may be because it left me wanting more - and that's a good thing. I'd like nothing more than to see this developed into a proper series because Chase needs a large canvas to do his best work.
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