I just watched those last minutes a few times over and over and I realized why that finale was genius. But for that, I had to turn up the volume loud.
Because the tension is so god damn high and there is such strong Hitchcockian suspense going on - when tony looks up after that bell rings , it's right in the middle of the line of the song ' don't stop ...' . As Chase said, he directed the scene around the pacing of the song itself.
I only figured out the effect of that last night. I realized something. When the bell rings and Tony looks up, right in the middle of the song - I felt like I GOT SHOT. Literally, shot in the gut. I felt a sensation in my gut - from the adrenaline from that suspense and the sudden ringing of the bell and the cutting of the music right in the middle of the melody - my gut experienced a tremor. That's the effect of that ending. And it's achieved with such creative means.
Instead of showing us Tony getting shot, it has us actually physically experience the unexpected feeling of actually getting shot ourselves. And that - is really a different level of directing a scene, I have to admit. I always knew there was something genius in it - but I couldn't pin point it. I swear to God, it feels like you get shot yourself, but you have to turn up the volume a bit to absorb everything. And the moments when you stare at the black screen and wait to see if more is to come or the end credits will come - feels like losing consciousness and bleeding out after being shot.
so yeah, absolutely perfect.
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NJtoTX
8 years ago
You got it.
David Chase:
"Meadow is filled with nothing but very, very deep emotions about parking her car. But possibly a minute later, her head will be filled with emotions she could never even imagine. We all take this stuff so seriously—losing our keys, parking our car, a winter cold, a summer cold, an allergy—whatever it is. And this stuff fills our mind from second to second, moment to moment. And the big moment is always out there waiting."
"I must say that even people who liked it misinterpreted it, to a certain extent. This wasn’t really about 'leaving the door open.' There was nothing definite about what happened, but there was a clean trend on view — a definite sense of what Tony and Carmela’s future looks like. Whether it happened that night or some other night doesn’t really matter.
"There are no esoteric clues in there. No Da Vinci Code. Everything that pertains to that episode was in that episode. And it was in the episode before that and the one before that and seasons before this one and so on. There had been indications of what the end is like. Remember when Jerry Toricano was killed? Silvio was not aware that the gun had been fired until after Jerry was on his way down to the floor. That’s the way things happen: It’s already going on by the time you even notice it.
Are you saying…?
"I’m not saying anything. And I’m not trying to be coy. It’s just that I think that to explain it would diminish it.
"I didn’t want any credits at all. I just wanted the black screen to go the length of the credits — all the way to the HBO ‘whoosh’ sound. But the Directors Guild wouldn’t give us a waiver.”
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petepi3
8 years ago
I still feel uneasy about how the show ending. I think its because I felt like I put myself in Tony's place, too. And thought about his family and how they would have reacted. And mostly because of the huge character Tony had become, and it being all over.
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