The Many Saints of Newark

Started by wilberfan, October 02, 2021, 11:57:09 PM

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JG

I get why everyone's hating on it but I kind of loved it anyway. Like Not Fade Away (which I also really liked) it was an unusual take on a story we've seen a million times.  I don't think it's perfect, but I can only think of one or two moments I thought were plain bad. I found the rest of it completely engaging, strange, and kind of beautiful. It feels like the kind of thing where a certain subset of Sopranos fans will reevaluate in a decade and decide it's brilliant.

Admittedly, it doesn't feel like the show at all.

Quote from: polkablues on October 05, 2021, 02:21:59 PM
I feel like part of the problem is that The Sopranos' strength was in demythologizing the Mafia narrative, but prequels are all about building the mythology of existing characters. The prequel's intentions are fully at odds with that of the work being prequeled.

For me what's being lost here is the fact that this is narrated by Christopher, who aspired to write the kind of cliched mafia movies this movie seems to be in conversation with. We have an unreliable narrator telling us stories passed down to him through the generations. Even though the show itself worked to demythologize the mafia as we knew it, there was certainly a mythology within the world of the characters, and what we have here is Christopher working through it. 

Anyways, my low expectations certainly helped shaped my reaction, but count me among the Many Saints stans!