Not Fade Away
Not Fade Away is a story from writer Director David Chase nestled within those halcyon days of Rock and Roll from just before the Beatles to just after the Summer of Love. From the clipped editing clearly he had a lot to say about that era and not nearly enough time to say it all. Anyway, before the British Invasion Douglas (John Magaro) had a good relationship with his working class parents Pat (James Gandolfini) and Antoinette (Molly Price). By the way they’re also mom and dad to his sister Evelyn (Meg Guzulescu who quietly plays a surprisingly critical role). The generation gap begins to crater after high school senior Douglas start playing drums in a rock band with Eugene (Jack Houston) and Wells (Will Brill). This is a dream come true for Douglas because of his love of the blues, not to mention his crush on Eugene’s upper middle class girl Grace (Bella Heathcote). After graduation college is short lived. While Eugene gets ditched by the band AND Grace, Douglas takes over both those gigs and ditches school to pursue a music career. Suddenly the Cold War takes on new meaning within his father / son relationship. For those not there, unlike today parents of the 1960’s seldom felt compelled to “bond” with their children. At the same time a ground swell of music inspiration was literally and figuratively setting the world on its ear. There were many greats who emerged from that magical time although as evidenced from the excellent soundtrack lovingly selected by executive producer Little Steve Van Zandt, many of those did fade away somewhat. But at least they beat the odds - which is something that not everyone who tried actually did.