Although The Many Saints of Newark leans too heavily on the vernacular of the show, it nevertheless has interesting things to say about how men like Tony Soprano come to exist.

Alessandro Nivola is brilliant as Tony’s uncle, Dickie Moltisanti, an unstable explosive who didn’t feature in The Sopranos but whose story provides fascinating insights into characters such as Tony’s mother, Lydia (Vera Farmiga). Expect laughs too.

No doubt devotees of the series will have different opinions as to the value of this backstory, but seen in isolation, as an intense and sometimes violent story of a dysfunctional family, the film is richly rewarding in its own right.

The Mafia Saints is intended to represent not Tony, but the one who had the greatest influence on his personality and leadership qualities. Because as one of the film's advertising slogans expresses, “Legends are not born, they are made”...