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Amazon.co.uk Review
The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own nouveau riche brood.
The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.
Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.
The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com
Special Features
1.33 Full Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Surround English
Dolby Digital Surround
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Surround English
Dolby Digital Surround
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where Goodfellas left off...,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Sopranos: Complete Series 1 (Six Disc Set) [DVD] (DVD)
This is the jewel in the crown of my DVD collection. After seeing nearly every retro-gangster movie, this progresses to a new level. The ideas of exploring how the family is affected and how old mafia values are lost is unrevealed terrain and has a devastating effect by taking everything that is essential to a gangster movie and adding everything that makes a TV series good. It gives you a chance to see the workings of a mafia family in more detail and the sub-plots that intertwine both the crime aspect and family aspects make this a thoroughly intriguing TV show. Do yourself a favour and splash out on this. Enjoy!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
bada bing!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Sopranos: Complete Series 1 (Six Disc Set) [DVD] (DVD)
This was already the best ever television series and it is even more compulsive watched in large chunks rather than per episode. The packaging (us version) is pretty good too! Picture quality is excellent especially if you have a widescreen television.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly the "family redefined". Gritty, funny, fantastic!,
By
This review is from: The Sopranos: Complete Series 1 (Six Disc Set) [DVD] (DVD)
James Gandolfini and co are a breath of fresh air when considering the wealth of US series' actors breezing onto UK screens. The first series of The Sopranos is a classic, a reliable purchase even if you have no knowledge of the show.The series combines the best bits of US-gangster action from movies like the Godfather and Goodfellas, and the 21st century culture shock of drugs and therapy. Tony Sopranos struggles under the stress of his Uncle's new found gang leadership and of course the trials and tribulations of family life. Along for the ride (and for great entertainment) are fellow mafia friends Paulie, Pussy, and Christopher (played by the fabulous Michael Imperioli) among others. The Sopranos deserves its critical acclaim and Emmy successes, and is certainly a must-have for your DVD collection! Highly recommended!
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