The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
(On Cable TV, January 2022) As anyone else with a working knowledge of 21st-century American pop culture, I’m aware of the Sopranos in broad detail despite never having watched much of the show. I was certainly aware of the challenge of this ignorance in watching prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark: would it make sense to a neophyte viewer? Or would it be crammed with an endless parade of references? The answer is half-satisfying: in trying to present the formative experiences of series lead Tony Soprano, writer/showrunner David Chase provides enough of a lifeline to enjoy the film as a period crime film. Michela De Rossi is audience-friendly as the new immigrant bride who experiences this new environment—while she’s not the movie’s lead (and leaves well before the film is through), she helps introduce us to the ensemble cast as mob matters and racial violence come to dominate the Newark, New Jersey surroundings. The story is occasionally strong enough to work as a standalone low-stake crime film, but that’s not necessarily an endorsement of The Many Saints of Newark for those new to the Soprano universe—even to those who never watched the show, the film is crammed with puzzling moments that clearly herald a cameo by a character that would be significant in the series, and it goes without saying that a good chunk of the film’s dramatic ironies and portents are completely lost on neophytes. Still, the film does have gripping moments, whether it’s sudden explosions of violence (either social or personal—that honking scene), and credibly portrays on a limited budget the impact of the racial riots of 1967 over a mixed neighbourhood. There’s an interesting ensemble cast even if most performances are short and allude to something else. It could have been worse (such as the shrug left by Ray Donovan: The Movie, a very similar project released almost simultaneously) but let’s not try to pretend that The Many Saints of Newark marks an effective entry point into the Sopranos’ continuity.