“I’ve never sat through an entire episode of The Sopranos, but in watching the final four minutes of last night’s episode or so on YouTube [editor’s note: clip was just removed by HBO for copyright violation], Tony was hit. Period. Based on pure filmic language, that’s how it reads.
“If you have a character at the bar who keeps looking over, then he walks to the bathroom and the camera dollies to reveal the bathroom is just off to Tony’s side, providing the geography and the logistics. And there’s your answer. This show always had a very formal aesthetic, and this dolly was motivated.
“The abrupt cut to black was it. That’s how it happens in the mob, as per Goodfellas — no yelling, no nothing, it just happens.” — Video artist Jamie Stuart to Hollywood Elsewhere, received 6:15 pm, 6.11.07.