The Tragic Irony of 'The Many Saints of Newark'
The Tragic Irony of 'The Many Saints of Newark'
#147: "The Many Saints of Newark," "The Guilty," "Crimson Tide," "Official Secrets"
Edition 147:
Hey movie lovers!
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In this week’s newsletter: A review of a movie in “The Sopranos” universe, which is really more a lament for the tragic irony of David Chase’s brilliance. Then a nod toward the challenge of making an entire movie about talking on the phone, a James Gandolfini movie for you to stream, and one of the hidden gems of 2019 that just became available on Netflix. In this week’s “Trailer Watch,” we got our first glimpse at Lin Manuel Miranda’s directorial capabilities!
The Many Saints of Newark
(Theaters, HBO Max)
The tragic irony of David Chase’s life is that he only ever wanted to make movies. On a recent interview on Marc Maron’s podcast, Chase admitted he felt like a sellout when he started to work in TV, which he saw as the mass produced, disposable little brother to the cinematic art form.
Of course, Chase would go on to be one of the signature TV makers of all time, running a show in “The Sopranos” whose cultural impact outlives nearly every movie released in 1999 (the only competition being The Matrix or, by default, Star Wars Episode 1).
“The Sopranos” is still nearly as popular now as it was when it went off the air in 2007. Such is the nature of modern streaming. And the nature of modern fandom is to demand more of the thing you love rather than finding something new to love (thanks a lot, Marvel).
So the demand for more Sopranos content, new Sopranos content, was massive.
Chase agreed to do a prequel, thanks to what I’m sure was a massive bag of cash but also the opportunity to write and direct it as a feature film. Then during development Chase’s wife fell ill and he suffered a heart attack, so ultimately he had to relinquish his directing duties to Alan Taylor (a very accomplished TV director).
Again, irony of ironies.
What Chase and Taylor have created in The Many Saints of Newark is much closer to a season of television, except crammed into two hours.
There are several interconnected yet distinct stories being told in the underworld of 1970s Newark, what would be called A, B and C plots were it in TV episode form.
There’s the origin story of Tony Soprano — played by James Gandolfini’s son, Michael — exploring the relationship with his father (played by Jon Bernthal) and more fascinatingly with his mother (Vera Farmiga).
There’s a classic mafia struggle for power story centered around Tony’s uncle Dickie Moltisanti, seizing power from his father (played by Ray Liotta) and fending off rival gangs while confronting his own morality.
There’s the forbidden fruit love story of a beautiful young Italian immigrant (Michela De Rossi), whose kiss seems to forecast death upon whomever it lands.
There’s a civil rights story about a young activist (Leslie Odom Jr.) who decides to take the power back for his people.
And throughout all of that there’s the easter eggs that must be dropped for fans of the TV show to go “oh that’s the younger version of this guy!”
It’s a laundry list that’s far too long for this amount of time, making each scene feel like it’s robbing from Peter to pay Paul. No single plot line is given enough time to be developed fully, and those shocking plot twist moments that would be built to over the course of several episodes occur every 15 minutes. Because this is the world of “The Sopranos,” most of those moments involve a major character getting shot, stabbed, beaten or drowned to death in what becomes an inevitable parade of murder.
My guess as to what happened is that Chase had an idea for the 1970s mafia mafia, and the studio producers said well you can only do that if you do the Tony Soprano prequel because that’s what the fans want, and then the producers’ bosses said well you can’t do that unless you develop a full character arc for a non-white character and a non-male character (none can deny Chase’s predisposition to creating an Italian sausage fest, if you know what I mean).
It’s not entirely Chase’s fault that he rendered such a fully realized world. That’s what he does. Every individual part of this movie brimmed with life and detail. The best scenes of the movie were the smallest moments, like a meal shared at the kitchen table between Tony and his mother. These are TV characteristics.
In fact, the movie made me want to spend more time with all the characters (or at least the much smaller list of characters who don’t get whacked at some point here).
There’s evidence to suggest that’s exactly what we’re going to get: 1) Chase just signed a new overall development deal with HBO. 2) The subtitle of this movie is “A Sopranos Story” which would imply potentially others. 3) It’s incredibly important to the bottom line of Warner Media (and their new overlords at AT&T/Discovery) to continue to milk one of their most valuable assets. 4) The ending of this movie isn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but I think it’s fair to say it doesn’t exactly tie up many loose ends.
I guess what I’m saying is David Chase didn’t make a movie after all. He made a pilot for a TV show, which will play out in two-hour serialized installments that only come out every couple years. And, perhaps cruelest of all, Warner Media’s day-and-date policy means that this movie became available to stream on HBO Max the same day it went to theaters. I watched it at home, on the couch, like an episode of TV.
Alas, the tragic irony.
Something New
The Guilty (Netflix): One of Hollywood’s new favorite strategies to avoid telling original stories is adapting (read: bastardizing) recent successful European movies into American projects led by A+-list talent — banking on the notion, not incorrectly, that American audiences are too lazy to read subtitles or care about movies without recognizable stars. The Intouchables became The Upside with Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston; Force Majeure became Downhill with Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus; Another Round is being redone with Leonardo DiCaprio. (In each case the European versions are far superior.)
Based on that history, and the fact I’d never seen the 2018 Danish version of this story, I admit to underestimating this movie despite its big name talent: director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Shooter, The Equalizer) and writer Nic Pizzolatto (“True Detective”). Jake Gyllenhaal shows of his enormous talent and magnetism, and I got completely knocked on my butt when the big plot twist hit. Still, the whole thing feels less like a movie and more like a Covid-induced experiment. Similar to the movie-on-a-computer-screen gimmick, and reminiscent of Tom Hardy in Locke, the whole movie is Jake Gyllenhaal talking on the phone. It’s impressive on an intellectual level to see how they pulled off an entire narrative with such limitations, but on Netflix there are a million options operating with all the tools movies can offer.
Something Old
Crimson Tide (1995, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Paramount+): In honor of “The Sopranos” dominating internet conversation this week, I wanted to find a James Gandolfini movie to recommend. But my pre-2000 rule in this category made things difficult, because “The Sopranos” launching in 1999 is what really made him a star. Before that, he mostly played henchmen and goons (albeit in really good movies like Get Shorty, 8MM and True Romance). He has a small part in this mid-90s thriller, alongside Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington aboard a nuclear submarine. In terms of just pure popcorn entertainment, few movies have ever done it better than this Tony Scott pressure cooker.
Something to Stream
Official Secrets (Netflix): I wrote a full review of this movie when it came out, naming it one of my under-the-radar favorites of 2019 (which in retrospect, is looking like a pretty fantastic movie year). It’s the story of a 2003 leaked memo about the manipulation of British intelligence to encourage a war in Iraq. The narrative pays such attention to historical detail that it’s almost documentary, and relishes pointing the spotlight toward the average joes rather than the power players (unlike the far less grounded movie covering a similar leak in the United States, the star-studded Shock and Awe). Keira Knightley is fantastic in the lead role, and Ralph Fiennes puts in a scene-stealing supporting performance, all contributing to a movie that’s genuinely affecting and gets you thinking long after the credits roll.
Trailer Watch: tick, tick…Boom!
Part of me was a little nervous to watch this trailer, because Lin Manuel Miranda is such a favorite of mine and I was worried he may have gone in over his head directing a feature film. Turns out a genius is a genius is a genius. This biopic on “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson looks awesome, and more importantly, the direction looks really impressive.
Strangely, the only moment of hesitation I had during the trailer was the title card “Screenplay by Steven Levenson.” If you read last week’s newsletter, you know Levenson wrote the fantastic book for “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway and then disfigured his own story for the silver screen. I have more hope this time around, because this idea was conceived and crafted specifically as a movie, and not adapted.