The Sopranos – mi piace tantissimo!

Here’s a little sequence of coincidences. One of the delights I get when over in Italy is going through our box set of the Sopranos. I love the programme but usually just watch it by myself first thing in the morning or later at night. Believe it or not it is 20 years since it first aired and it remains a great example of intriguing plot lines and brilliant acting. The series ended in 2007 and I’ve re-watched all the episodes several times since then but I never get bored with it. During our recent visit I managed to get through series 1 and 2 and most of series 3 – the early days when Livia was such a major psychological influence in the life of her son Tony, played superbly and with constant brooding menace by James Gandolfini…

James Gandolfini

Shocking news eh to learn of the death of James Gandolfini at just 51. I like this image of him in a classic Tony Soprano pose – that look of calm menace was just brilliant characterisation. Surely he was the finest actor in the most gripping TV programme of the noughties. A poignant line from his character Tony reflecting on life as head of the family….

“All due respect, you got no f—–g idea what it’s like to be Number One. Every decision you make affects every facet of every other f—–g thing. It’s too much to deal with almost. And in the end you’re completely alone with it all.”

What a sad loss of a guy.

The irony is I wrote a posting not too long ago on the subject and symbolism of cancer in one of the episodes.  It feels a little prophetic on several levels now but for anyone who’s interested in a slightly darker posting about The Sopranos and the prospects for Tony himself,  here it is:

https://pastapaulie.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/there-is-no-stage-5/

I also read a very nice piece in the i newspaper today by Tom Sutcliffe which, if you’re a fan of James/Tony, I’ll think you’ll enjoy:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/james-gandolfini-and-tony-soprano-are-both-gone–is-it-the-actor-or-the-character-were-mourning-8666554.html

pp

the sopranos

Well I have to admit that we are starting to accumulate a fairly large library over here of dvds on tv series from the UK and the USA.  Sometimes it’s a series that we’ve already seen and enjoyed enormously and don’t mind re-viewing but increasingly we are picking stuff that we meant to see but didn’t get into, or have stumbled across and now enjoy a lot.