Title: Not Fade Away
Genre: Film
Grade: A- /B+
Notable People: Directed by David Chase, John Magaro, Jack Huston, and James Gandolfini
Review: what a great movie to see on a winters’ afternoon. I gave it a split rating because I’m not sure if the appeal is more “of an age”. For me- it captured very well the dreams of the early-mid sixties; the culture, the music, the simplicity that was quickly becoming something else. David Chase and James Gandolfini reunite from the Sopranos- and they do it really well; clearly a love poem from Chase. Gandolfini is superb (though not a huge stretch from Tony Soprano) as the blue collar Jersey dad trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Steve Van Zant oversees the music with great panache. The movie opens with teen aged Mick and Keef meeting on train and talking blues, and ends with the mid teen younger sister (and narrator) dancing in the middle of LA’s Sunset Strip; seemingly a dance into the change that was to come. In between- there is some great sixties garage rock. I really liked this movie a lot and it made me want to reclaim my lost Stratocaster and old fashioned mike. Greet McGuinn-esque Rickenbacker guitar makes a cameo.