Young Anthony Soprano (William Ludwig and James Gandolfini) is growing up in Newark, New Jersey and his life is shaped by the uncle he idolises, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nicola). This is the story of how Dickie struggles to manage his private life and criminal profession whilst influencing the man young Anthony would become. 

Set roughly thirty years prior to the start of The Sopranos television series this is not an origin story for Tony Soprano. This is the story of Dickie Moltisanti as narrated by his now dead son Christopher (Michael Imperioli) and how his life would influence and contain some mirror images to Tony. 

Dickie is struggling with a number of issues. His abusive father Aldo (Ray Liotta) has returned from Italy with a young wife that Dickie covets, his current wife is unable to give him a son and his business is under threat from Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.). And of course as all of this is unfolding he is an influence on his nephew’s life. 

Soprano’s fans will have plenty to admire and pay attention to here. The parallels between Dickie’s life and Tony’s in the series are clear. Whilst younger versions of Junior Soprano (Corey Stoll), Livia Soprano (Vera Farmiga), Paulie (Billy Magnussen), Silvio (John Magaro), Janice Soprano (Alexandra Intrator) and many more are featured. And of course there is the lovely touch of having James Gandolfini’s son James playing the role his father was famous for. 

We are also in safe hands here with Sopranos creator David Chase and veteran writer Lawrence Konner on scripting duties and veteran Sopranos director Alan Taylor behind the camera. We are even treated to the Sopranos theme song over the end credits. 

Given all of this I think Sopranos fans will absolutely love this film. It is lovingly created and fits brilliantly into the canon of the show. But I can not help but have some reservations with my recommendation. As a Sopranos fan I found the film a bit ‘bitty’. I found myself wanting to know more about each character and spend more time with them. Paradoxically this would make a great series for a streaming platform and ten hours with these characters telling this story would be fantastic. Without Sopranos knowledge I am not sure I would have totally seen the point in the story as it does not necessarily feel whole and you certainly would not get everything that you could from the content. 

Performance wise it is all about Nivola and Gandolfini. They work fantastically together and Nivola is probably on career best form. Vera Farmiga is also fabulous as the overbearing mother that oppresses Tony so much. My only complaint with any of the performances would be that John Magaro’s Silvio is so desperately trying to live up to Steven Van Zandt’s portrayal in the show it just feels like an impersonation. 

A really solid effort and companion to the show but I can not help but wish this was another ‘Better Call Saul’ instead of an El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.