David Chase: coming-of-age stories never get old

David Chase's new movie, "Not Fade Away," his first major work since concluding "The Sopranos," tells the story of a thoughtful teenage boy (John Magaro) growing up in New Jersey during the 1960s. Flat December light settles over the film's suburban snowbanks in winter, mountains of leaves clog the gutters in autumn, the Jersey shore beckons in summer. The teen plays in a garage band with an outside chance at fame; he meets a girl who understands him; he runs afoul of his father (James Gandolfini), revealing a generational divide; he discovers the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and, at the movies, Antonioni. "What kind of movie is this?" the boy asks his girlfriend as they slump before "Blow-Up," simultaneously mystified and rocked to the core. "What kind of movie is this?"

Christopher Borrelli

December 26, 2012