I've been rewatching and filling in the blanks on some of the first season of The Sopranos, and seeing again what a brilliant and innovative show this was, particularly for the TV climate of 1999. Now seemingly every show that isn't a reality show or a Law & Order spin-off is highly serialized and available on DVD, and it's unquestioned that people will follow long storylines and slow character development, and more importantly, pay the owners of the property directly by buying DVDs, so they can sell quality to consumers and not just bored eyeballs to advertisers. Some also credit Joss Whedon, the only guy working on broadcast TV doing season long story arcs and depending on creativity and quality to suck people in, because the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel gave credibility to pitches for shows like 24, Alias, and Lost. But seriously, I didn't realize how much there was packed into just the first few episodes of The Sopranos, and while I had maintained a long admiration for James Gandolfini, seeing this definitive role again I realized I'd forgotten just how good he was as Tony. What sparked a brief homage is watching a scene where Tony, as the underboss everybody knows is running the show behind the scenes, has to arrange something then have a fake meeting with all parties in front of the don, his uncle Junior, to make it seem like he really made the decision. I just enjoyed that scene because every character overplays their part a little bit, hamming it up in front of Junior, and for some reason I love it when good actors portray bad acting, because I think that's got to be hard, playing Tony playing a part, with enough of a crack between Tony's face and the persona he's playing to let some daylight in.*To play a part that requires equal parts slovenliness and sexiness with the style of Gandolfini is incredible, and he's been doing stuff like that his whole career, creating these tremendous performances, just never where anybody can see it. I still love his character in The Mexican for being so far from Tony Soprano yet still having that mesmerizing violent charm, as a gay hit man who dances to Men Without Hats. Tired as I am of people like Robert Redford posturing, Gandolfini was a show stealing villain in The Last Castle, completely human in his flaws, noble in his ambition and self-image but ultimately sliding easily into being an truly evil bastard over nothing but pettiness and a bitter lack of empathy. He's about the only guy in 8MM who doesn't seem ridiculous, although Peter Stormare actually hits a nice note playing a ridiculous character (and okay Joaquin Phoenix wasn't bad), and I'd even consider seeing Surviving Christmas just to see him. I really wish he'd gotten Catch Me If You Can, because while I'm not disparaging what Tom Hanks did with the part, I think the whole style Gandolfini would have brought and his scenes with Leonardo di Caprio would have been great... I always picture him in their on-screen first meeting, excited and gullible, or as the shy fat guy nobody wants to listen to droning on about fake checks at the FBI. To see him in a movie with that kind of promotion, with Steven Spielberg at the helm, I wonder what it could have done for him as an actor. Until then, in my circle of acquaintances nobody but me will appreciate James Gandolfini, but I really wish you all could all see something like the first season of The Sopranos and see what the world is missing putting the maniacal stares of Tom Cruise and Nicholas Cage into every movie ahead of Gandolfini.
*-As a brief aside on portraying bad acting, it helps Gandolfini and others to have enough natural screen time to have something to compare it to. Danielle Pannabaker in Mr. Brooks is self-conscious and over emoting in every scene but one, and it's hard to tell if she's just a bad actress until the plot starts to unravel, and it's clear her character is lying in every scene, lying through her teeth, and desperately trying to build a foundation of half-truths as the ground crumbles around her. It's obvious to her father watching her, and becomes more obvious over the course of the film that there's this persona being built, until the final scene when we can believe her character takes off the mask in chilling fashion. Plus she's got that whole smoking hot thing going with the dark red hair set off against pale white skin, so er, my judgment may be impaired as my analysis of Northwestern softball. (Seriously do you think their catcher's single?)To shoehorn in another note about acting and natural human empathy, I found a link on slashdot to a magazine that tried to administer the Voight-Kampff test from Bladerunner to San Francisco mayoral candidates to see if replicants had infiltrated the Democratic Party, and apparently the answer is they have. That just struck me as a great idea, but so far Congressman Ellison's office has refused my request for an interview with a giant magnifying glass and a camera to measure his pupil and capillary response to emotional stimuli. I wonder who else is dreaming of electric sheep?
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