Sopranotember: When David Chase Faded Away
Not Fade Away is not a Sopranos prequel, but it might as well be.
David Chase is known for television, rather than movies. Before The Sopranos, he had been a veteran for shows like The Rockford Files and Northern Exposure. The Sopranos proved that serious television can be visually inventive and transcend storytelling altogether. Sometimes at its best moments, it can compete with some of the greatest movies of its time, with a variety of compositions that pops the eye as better as anything on the One Perfect Shot Twitter account. But that doesn’t mean The Sopranos fits into the cinematic mold, not even in the technical sense.
You probably have not heard about Not Fade Away, the directorial debut of David Chase that was released in 2012. It was his first cinematic foray and there was little fanfare. It did however received a massive plaudit from Keith Ulhrich, then the film critic for Time Out New York:
As in the best episodes of that seminal television series, Not Fade Away resembles less a straight drama than an ellipsis-heavy daydream. Chase jumps confidently through seemingly mundane occurrences in Douglas’s life—first love with his neighbor Grace (the ethereal Bella Heathcote); heated arguments with his overly practical father (James Gandolfini); and a variety of minor successes and major setbacks. Every scene plays with an in-the-moment vividness far removed from nostalgia-laden sentimentality; even the simplest interaction feels like it echoes through eternity. But it isn’t until the story reaches its fancifully abstract final passages, where cinema displaces music as Douglas’s weapon of choice, that Chase’s reverie reveals itself as a particularly exceptional exploration of how art ceases being an idle hobby and becomes an obsessive vocation.
Ulhrich1 then went on to call Not Fade Away one of the best films of the 2010s:
Neither, for that matter, has David Chase, whose directorial debut, Not Fade Away, met with crickets upon release, a far cry from the way his epochal TV series, The Sopranos (1999-2007), was discussed and dissected over its six seasons. A tragedy on the one hand. On the other, I'm happy to have this 1960s-set feature, which focuses on a callow New Jerseyan (John Magaro) who dreams of rock-'n'-roll glory, mostly to myself, the better to advocate for it slowly but surely.
As much as Not Fade Away is straightforward in its narrative and doesn’t share the overt sentimentality of the 1960s, it remains crushingly dull. The substance of Not Fade Away recalls the historical excellence of Mad Men, judging by its 1960s backdrop. But it also has a lot in common with Inside Llewyn Davis, where creative failure nulls the mind. There’s no alteration to the narrative, nor does any of the tropes receive any modification. The performances, with the exception of a few, do not stand out and the visuals are quite dry.
What’s perhaps is new about the film is how it exposes its director, David Chase. Not Fade Away is the most autobiographical that David Chase has ever put himself. More so than the aspect from The Sopranos, in which Livia was inspired by the abuses of his real-life mother. Douglas (John Magaro, who would later play Silvio in The Many Saints of Newark), the main hero of the film, is his alter-ego, all the way to his curly hairdo. The moment that Douglas heard of I Wanna Hold Your Hand. That inspires him to start a band in the vein of them, the Stones, Bob Dylan, and many more. He then is drawn to a girl in high school (Bella Heathcote), who comes from a socially conservative family.
In a profile for Vulture, David Chase insists that it is still a movie, after all these years, with the feedback he received that it should have been a TV series. Then again, it’s also exactly what he said about The Many Saints of Newark, and expressed frustration over Warner Bros releasing it on HBO Max simultaneously. Barring its huge soundtrack, Not Fade Away is stubbornly small in its vision. At the same time, it sticks with one narrative, and it’s a rather personal one that only a TV show could not do if their main interest is not bringing in more audiences.
Chase can be an irritant in terms of his artistry, but he’s hardly insincere. This is a story about growing up as a baby boomer, and this can be irritating for anyone younger, to view this as an on-the-surface sentiment that overshadows the emptiness of being one. Chase’s film does profess from affirming that perspective, especially given the abundance of great music coming from the generation. But there’s alienation when you are not beloved by your father, or once your band does not make it big. Then comes uncertainty - when Douglas has plans to go to film school instead - which is certainly the biggest drawback of youth. That would have been expressed better, but it’s nothing short of profundity that has already run along with The Sopranos or Mad Men.
Meanwhile, It’s hard not to make a lot of connections to The Sopranos. Not just the casting James Gandolfini as Douglas’s father, who appears with the same New Jersey cadence we hear from Tony Soprano. Even though that seems like a distraction, he’s pretty solid here. Steven Van Zandt was the music supervisor and taught the actors how to pick up an instrument. The soundtrack is mainly boomer rock-and-roll, something that Tony Soprano would usually listen to in his glory days. Not Fade Away would not have happened had The Sopranos hasn’t been that huge.
So why did Not Fade Away faded away? Chances are that the marketing got away with it and Chase was still known as the guy who did The Sopranos. Technically, that’s correct. But Chase is known to some (or probably most) as the guy who made The Sopranos, as viewed by a badass. Chase became more of a recluse (he last appeared on Bojack Horseman) and until The Many Saints of Newark, Not Fade Away was the last piece of work that David Chase has ever done. It is pretty much curiosity for anyone stunned by The Sopranos and its very final shot.
By the way, Keith Uhlich is one of the best film critics in the game. Even when I strongly disagree with him, he has trenchant insights that make me think twice about a movie I just saw.