My tribute to James Gandolfini I well recall the first time I ever watched the Sopranos in 2002. My ex bought me the first season on box set for my birthday. It was the last present I received off her before being bin bagged the following week. Maybe it was a parting gift to soften the blow? Anyway, I’d left it unopened for a number of weeks until one Sunday, slightly hungover from an all nighter at Cream, ironically getting over my ex, I decided to watch 20 or so minutes of the first episode to see whether I liked the show before heading out for the day. Six hours later I finally left the house. I have never been so gripped by any programme or movie I have ever watched. A large part of that was Gandolfini’s spectacular yet often understated performance – it was often said while he was alive that this may well be the most complete performance by a television actor in history. I see no reason to dispute that now. Tony Soprano was a ball of contradictions; you never know when his jokey goofing around would explode in a murderous rage. Tony in his dressing gown in the mornings raiding the fridge and bickering with his wife and kids. Devoted family man at the BBQ, screwing around with his latest conquest or just hanging out with the guys. He combined flashes of genuine emotion and insight with the cold eyed ability to squeeze a mark or order a man’s death. Tony Soprano was charming, compelling and utterly ruthless. By the end the charm was like watching lipstick on a shark but somehow Gandolfini kept Tony plausible and even sympathetic. It was hard to stop rooting for the guy, even when you knew you shouldn’t. James Gandolfini was the sun that the ensemble cast orbited, he was the shows heart and troubled soul, and by all accounts a stand-up guy. The biggest achievement of the show was that you were quite happy to watch episodes of the characters just hanging out together but Gandolfini was it’s heartbeat, with Tony overshadowing even the scenes where he wasn’t present, sucking the others into his monstrous world. I still go back to my box sets I have watched so many times and marvel at the sheer class of the guy… and when the screen goes black at the end of the final episode, remember James Gandolfini. Peace, out.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 19:35:09 +0000
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