Almost everyone in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos, does an impression of their original counterpart. You’ve got John Magaro imitating Silvio Dante’s stiff walk and head tilt. (We learn that the famed pompadour is actually a wig that hides a harsh balding pattern.) Billy Magnuson is here to give us his take on the tough, loyal, and not-so-bright Paulie Walnuts. Junior Soprano is a nasty, tetchy character played by Corey Stoll, who wears big glasses. Vera Farmiga’s portrayal of the Sopranos matriarch Livia looks to be more Edie Falco’s Carmela than Nancy Marchand’s Livia, which could be purposeful given the Oedipal complex.
It’s been 14 years since the last episode of The Sopranos aired on television, but the prequel film The Many Saints of Newark is arrived to whet the appetites of mafia lovers. It shines when it focuses on the legendary characters of HBO’s renowned series, nailing the mafia themes, and only stumbles when it tries to cram too much into its two-hour running time. Moreover, fans who have been missing (or rewatching) the beloved show for the previous decade-and-a-half should be happy with this. Consequently, read this to the end.
Review Of The Many Saints of Newark
The film follows Anthony Soprano as he grows up in one of Newark’s most turbulent periods, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s grip on the increasingly racially divided city. Therefore, dickie Moltisanti, the uncle he idolises, is caught up in the changing times, struggling to balance his career and family duties, and his influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable adolescent into the all-powerful mob boss we’ll come to know as Tony Soprano.
The film is chock-full of gangster movie clichés. Dickie has a bad temper that takes over his body like a possession and makes him snap. How many times have we witnessed such personality trait? He wants to atone for his sins by coaching a blind children’s softball team. Furthermore, paying a visit to an old mafia henchman serving life in prison (I’d say more, but it would give away one of the film’s most surprising twists). Therefore, as they did on The Sopranos, everyone has a goomah, or mistress, there are scenes of sausages being cooked and baked ziti being eaten. Moreover, there are a few mob hits that are stunning and unexpected.
The film’s honest recognition of the prejudice among these mobbed-up characters is the only variation on the stereotype. However, they are openly racist, making jokes about how lazy Black people are and how incapable they are of managing their own finances. When Johnny Soprano is releasing from prison, he abides horrified to learn that a Black family has come into his neighbourhood. However, it takes courage for Chase and company to admit this heinous truth and it makes us root the harder for Harold McBrayer. The race riots in Newark are depictes in the early scenes of the film. Moreover, it has two purposes: it raises Harold’s awareness, and Dickie takes advantage of the riots’ chaos to dispose of a body.
The Many Saints of Newark isn’t much different from The Sopranos. Just one episode had more humor, nuance and bold choices than the rest of the film. For the most part, the film is about toxic masculinity and the legacy of bad parenting.
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The release date, timing, and other facts of Movie
The Main Cast
- Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti
- Leslie Odom Jr. as Harold McBrayer
- Vera Farmiga as Livia Soprano
- Jon Bernthal as Johnny Soprano
- Corey Stoll as Junior Soprano
