TV Series: The Sopranos Season 2

The second season of the Sopranos is characterised by people returning. Some were gone for a long time, some shorter. Tony's older sister Janice returns after an absence of 20 years. She joined an ashram in Washington and changed her name to Parvati. Tony accuses her of only coming back because she wants money, and based on her actions it seems to be true. She blocks the sale of her mother's house, supposedly so she can return home from the nursing home Green Grove, but also so that she can have somewhere to live.

Richie Aprile, the brother of the former boss Jackie Aprile, is released after a 10 year prison sentence. He grudgingly accepts Tony Soprano as the de facto boss while Junior Soprano is in prison, but he's obviously bitter about being overlooked in the succession.

Pussy Bonpensiero returns after an absence of a few months. In the first season there were suspicions that he was a rat, betraying his colleagues. Now we find out that it's true, wehen we see him talking to an FBI agent. He fled New Jersey, because he thought that Tony was on to him. Now that he knows that Tony no longer suspects him, he feels comfortable returning. He tells everyone a story about being in Puerto Rico for back treatment.

At the end of the first season Tony told Jennifer Melfi to get out of town to avoid reprisals for acting as his psychiatrist. Since then she's been using a motel room as her office. Was she also living there? It's not made clear. Now Tony tells her she can come back, but she's not yet ready to take him back as a patient.

At the end of the first season Junior Soprano was arrested. He applies for compassionate release due to a heart condition. The judge agrees to release him under conditions of house arrest. He's only allowed to leave his house for doctors' appointments and food shopping. He has to wear an electronic bracelet to prove that he's obeying the conditions.

Luckily Junior has an understanding physician who allows him to use his surgery for business. In America it's not allowed to place listening devices in doctors' surgeries. Tony tells Junior that he'll allow him to keep his stripes, i.e. still be recognised as boss, but Tony himself will run business.

A new business venture is started under the control of Christopher Moltisanti, who's used crooked means to be accredited as a stockbroker. Shares are sold of a non-serious company, Webistics. His brokerage has bought 400,000 Webistics shares for 60 cents each to be sold for inflated prices to elderly people who don't know what they're doing.

I think that's all the major changes this season. If I've forgotten anything, I'll mention it in my next post.

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Monkey Man (4 Stars)

Dev Patel plays Kid, a man whose mother was killed in racial violence. All his life he's wanted revenge on the corrupt police chief who was responsible. He's now a wrestler who wears a monkey mask and calls himself Monkey Man. He's paid to lose fights. Someone has to do it.

He finally has a chance to get close to the police chief. Kid gets a job as a waiter in a high class brothel that the police chief frequents. Are his wrestling skills enough to get him past the armed guards?

The film contains a lot of religious elements, different Hindu cults. A key figure is the monkey God Hanuman, of whom Kid learnt as a child.

It's an exciting film with a lot of action, but I have to criticise the cinematography. In the close-up scenes it's often difficult to see who's hitting who. Films like "John Wick" show that it can be done better.

Success Rate:  + 1.5

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Tag (5 Stars)

Amazon Friday #42

Yesterday I discovered that "Tag" is available on Amazon Prime. That was my excuse for watching it again. Do I really need an excuse? "Tag" is brilliant, one of the best films ever made. So today I watched it dubbed into German.

It's a film I've often watched. Today was the tenth time. In cases like this I try to forget the film. I imagine that I'm watching it for the first time. That's the best way to enjoy a film like "Tag" that isn't explained until the final scenes.

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Bonhoeffer (5 Stars)

This is a film that I missed when it was in the cinema last month. I was pleasantly surprised that it was shown again today, on Easter Sunday. I can understand the logic. The cinema wanted to attract Christians on this religious holiday. Did it work? Maybe. Apart from me there were about 20 people in the cinema, mostly elderly women.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a name that everyone in Germany knows. He was an outstanding critic of the Nazi regime. In the Nazi era most Protestant churches supported Hitler. They considered him to be Germany's saviour when Communism was rising. Bonhoeffer was a man who recognised Hitler's evil early on. He had the courage to preach against the Nazi Party, at the risk of his own life.

The film is a true story. There's no happy ending. He was hanged two weeks before the war ended.

I'm aware that the film has been heavily criticised for historical inaccuracies. In particular, Bonhoeffer's role in an assassination plot is over-emphasised. He was a pacifist. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed the film. I was moved to tears, and I stood in awe of the great man. Would I have been brave enough to stand up to Hitler? No. I would have remained silent to protect myself and my family.

Moon the Panda (4½ Stars)

12-year-old Tian is torn between two cultures. His father is a millionaire Chinese businessman. His mother is French and dedicates herself to her family. Tian is an outsider at school, and his academic grades suffer as a result. His father is angry with Tian for doing badly at school, whereas his mother is caring and understanding.

In the school holidays Tian is sent to his grandmother, a deeply spiritual woman who lives in a secluded cabin in the Chinese mountains. While wandering in the woods Tian discovers a young panda that he calls Moon. At first the panda is afraid of him, but they become friends when Tian brings food.

It's a beautiful film, showing how a lonely young boy can make an unusual friend. It isn't just a children's film. It can move viewers of any age; anyone as sentimental as me.

The Father (3 Stars)

As I've mentioned more than once in my blog, I dislike films about dementia. It's a subject that disturbs me. I witnessed my grandfather suffering from dementia. I witnessed my friend Brian Farmer suffering from dementia shortly before he was murdered. I had already heard about this film and knew that it was critically acclaimed, so my rating is purely subjective.

Anthony Hopkins plays a wealthy man who lives in London. His daughter has been caring for him, but now she has to move to Paris. What will become of him?

What makes "The Father" unique is that it shows dementia through the eyes of the sick person. This isn't even clear in the early stages of the film. As the film progresses we slowly piece things together and see what's really happening.

The performances are excellent by all involved. What else can you expected from actors like Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman? I'm sure most of my readers will enjoy the film more than I did.

Success Rate:  + 4.0

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Remember (4 Stars)

Two elderly Jews live in a New York nursing home. They make a pact to locate a man they knew while they were in Auschwitz. One of them is wheel-chair bound, so he can't travel. The other is suffering from dementia, but his friend encourages him to travel. They know the man's name, a false identity he used when emigrating to America, but there are several men with the same name, and all must be checked.

Zev Guttmann's dementia is so bad that he frequently forgets where he is and why he's travelling. His friend has given him a letter to read every day to remind him of his mission.

When I first watched this film I only gave it a two star rating because I found the portrayal of dementia disturbing. Today I made a conscious attempt to accept it, and I was able to recognise that it's a good film.

Success Rate:  - 2.6

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TV Series: The Sopranos Season 1 (Part 4)

Tony's not looking well. As we find out, he's reacting badly to one of the medications he's taking, Lithium. But this makes the twelfth episode one of the worst episodes in the whole series. I only say "one of the worst", not the worst overall, because the episode does have some redeeming qualities. There are two stories running in parallel, one good, one bad.

I mentioned before that I dislike dream sequences in films and television series, but the dreams in "The Sopranos" usually make sense. This is an example where they don't. Tony meets Isabella, an Italian medical student living with the Cusamanos, on three separate occasions. At the end of the episode we find out that she didn't exist. It was all a dream brought on by his feverish state after taking Lithium. Is that at all possible? I could just about believe a single vision, but three on the same day? Nonsense!

The other story in the episode involves Tony's uncle Junior Soprano finding out that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. This is totally inacceptable for anyone in the Mafia. Despite the ethics of doctor-patient confidentiality, it's not tolerated that anyone should talk about their business. Junior finds out while visiting Tony's mother Livia in the Green Grove retirement home. She's already angry about Tony visiting a psychiatrist. She accuses him of seeing a psychiatrist to talk about his mother. That's actually correct. When Junior suggests killing Tony, Livia encourages him. Later in the episode the assassination attempt goes wrong, leaving the hired assailants dead and Tony only lightly injured.

The incident is described as a car-jacking, but Tony knows otherwise, and so does the FBI. Livia's room in the retirement home has been bugged. (Is that even legal?) Tony is played the tape of Livia and Junior conspiring to kill him, in order to encourage him to give evidence against his uncle. Tony would never take a deal like this. He's old school and would never talk to the police, not even if his associates have been trying to kill him.

Tony orders his men to kill Junior and the capos (captains) loyal to him. This is partially successful. Junior's main hit-man, Mikey Palmice, is shot by Paulie and Christopher in the woods. It's an example of Paulie's psychopathic traits that he's more concerned about being stung by poison ivy than killing someone. Junior is arrested by the FBI before he can be executed.

After the failed assassination attempt, Livia is faking dementia so that she can't be put on trial or requested to give evidence. Tony visits Green Grove, intending to smother her with a pillow, but she's just had a stroke (supposedly), so the doctors take her away.

There are two consequences of the events that close the first season. Firstly, with Junior in prison there's nothing to stop Tony becoming the next boss. Secondly, Tony advises Jennifer Melfi to leave town to avoid being killed.

There's so much that happens in the last three episodes of the first season, much more than I've written. Please visit "Sopranos Autopsy" for more details. The whole series is excellent, even if I have to criticise the dream sequence(s) in the twelfth episode.

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TV Series: The Sopranos Season 1 (Part 3)

The tenth episode of "The Sopranos" is important to me, because it was the first episode that I saw. I even remember where I was when I saw it. I'd just started a new job, and I was in a motel on Long Island feeling bored. My room had HBO, a channel I didn't have at home, so I took a peek. At that time in my life I watched more television series than films. I didn't become a big film fan until 2003 when I bought my first DVD player. I was watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Xena Warrior Princess", "Earth Final Conflict", "Nightman", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager"; all of them science fiction or fantasy. No gangster series. I had no interest at all in gangster stories. But then I watched the tenth episode of "The Sopranos", completely at random, and wow! I didn't know what hit me. I told all my friends about it. I became a regular viewer, although it wasn't until months later that I had a chance to see the first nine episodes. And I made sure I had HBO in my new home.

This is Artie Bucco, a childhood friend of Tony Soprano who decided not to get involved with organised crime. He's opened a restaurant called Vesuvio. Tony and his associates frequently visit the restaurant, much to the dismay of Artie's wife, because she doesn't want Vesuvio to be seen as a mob restaurant.

Bruce Cusamano was mentioned a few times in the early episodes, but now we finally see him. He's Tony's family doctor and also his next door neighbour. He's the one who referred Tony to Jennifer Melfi after his panic attacks.

By now Tony is always flirting with his psychiatrist, but she remains professional and turns him down. He's leaning back in his chair to get a better view of her legs.

And Jennifer uncrosses her legs to let him see even more. Does that mean she isn't being completely professional? Maybe. It's all a power game. She likes to lead him on so that she can show she's in charge by turning him down.

One thing we learn about Jennifer is that her office is in a medical centre. Tony is embarrassed to see his associate Silvio Dante in the corridor on his way to see a dentist.

And the psychiatrist visits a psychiatrist! Jennifer's psychiatrist is Elliot Kupferberg. She talks to him about her problems treating Tony Soprano, calling him Patient X to hide his identity. Elliot repeatedly advises her to refer Tony to another psychiatrist.

In a raid on Tony's house we briefly see Agent Harris, the leader of the FBI task force. He plays an increasingly important role as the series progresses. The Sopranos fan page claims his first name is Dwight, but I don't remember his name ever being mentioned. Maybe it's in a conversation with his colleagues? I'll pay attention this time.

I've already mentioned that Tony's mother is the only completely evil person in the series. We see an example in a flashback to Tony's youth. Tony's father says he wants to move to Las Vegas to participate in the emerging casino business. He says that it would be a legitimate business venture, and their children would prefer the climate. She replies, "I'd rather smother them with a pillow than take them to Nevada".

In case anyone wonders what the "parts" are in my reviews, they're not completely random. I'm watching the series on Blu-ray, and for me each "part" is the collection of episodes on a single disc. I don't intend to make full plot summaries of individual episodes. If you want more details, please visit the excellent web site "Sopranos Autopsy".

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