Genre: Film
Grade: A-
Notable People: Alessandro Novola, Leslie Odom Jr, Vera Farmiga, Michael Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Directed by: Alan Taylor
Title: The Many Saints of Newark
Review: Woke up this morning……found myself a gun……. We revisit the early years of Tony Soprano gangland family in this HBO Max only -compelling prequel, produce by David Chase, and set in the hot summer of 1967, as Newark burns. Full of complicated race relations and harbingers of things to come. Beautifully shot to show the complex times and driven by a great soundtrack, we see the emergence of the mob family that has become part of our lexicon, as familiar as comfort food. The portrayals of the later day characters as their younger selves is extraordinarily detailed and consistent with the original six season show, as we get to know the much younger Silvio, Paulie and Big Pussy…and Michael Gandolfini playing his father as a teenager (in life and in the film) is dead on. The nuances are fabulous and the inclusion of the irascible Ray Liotta as the family patriarch is a bonus, as is the appearance of the original Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore) playing his own father. This was a delightful two-hour watch.