Review: City Island
Film: City Island
Starring: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, Dominik García-Lorido, Ezra Miller, Emily Mortimer, Alan Arkin
Director: Raymond De Felitta
Screenwriter: Raymond De Felitta
Sometimes before I write a review I'll troll around the internet to read others views of the film. It doesn't influence what I write about. Instead it inspires me to forge ahead with my own views.
A few critics complained that this film was too overloaded. I disagree. When you have a dysfunctional ensemble cast, and when the plot synopsis tells the audience that each family member has a secret, you're bound to have to follow a lot of subplots. In this day and age of Lost, Heroes, Flash Forward and all the other ensemble works out there, this is an inevitable path to be taken.
Ironically, I had a much harder time getting into the TV shows above than I did this movie. The multiple characters and their stories didn't bother me as much as some of the implausible, silly, and over-the-top scenes. I had trouble with the tension and the arguing, but I knew we'd get past that eventually. I was as uncomfortable as Tony (Steven Strait) who spends his first day in the Rizzo household listening to the yelling around the table between Vince Sr. (Andy Garcia), his wive Joyce (Julianna Margulies) and their kids (Dominik García-Lorido and Ezra Miller). The tension in the room was deeply felt by me, which means I guess it worked.
As for the secrets, yes they all have them, but they're not so monumental that they're unsolvable. That was the other complaint some critics had. They said the ending was predictable or too easy. My view is after all the hiding and arguing for an hour and forty minutes, resolving the problem is the only way to calm down from this roller coaster adventure. I loved the ending. It was the best part. Maybe it was the fact that the film was over, or the hope that they'd stop being so suspicious of each other.
The daughter, Vivian (I wonder if Joyce complained about how all the kids are somewhat named after her husband), has her own secret, but the plot device used in the film bothered me. She'd be on the phone complaining about how badly she wanted to get back to work. It's almost like she loved her job. She occasionally sounded as if she didn't enjoy college, which sort of defeats the ending.
Vince Jr., meanwhile, has a fetish, but he's also an annoying prat, who thinks he's better than anyone, but in the end I realized he just felt the same way toward his parents as they did each other. He was following their model. He wasn't proud of them, and thought they were as childish as he was.
I'm not going to do what the other critics do and give away the plot and its secrets, however, they're a bit on the unbelievable side. Some are really mild, such as smoking when they had said they had quit, etc. Others are somewhat more tangible and deal mainly with self-esteem issues, especially considering the fact that Joyce and Vince tend to argue about each other's lack of a college education and a real job.
There are parts that are a bit silly, like imitating Marlon Brando during an acting audition for a Martin Scorsese movie. What happened immediately after was fun and somewhat believable, but the Brando bit was ridiculous.
Some parts are endearing, like one involving the next door neighbor. At first one has to wonder where that was going, but soon enough it turns into a really nice side story.
Andy Garcia is a good actor and I often enjoy his work, although sometimes I wonder if he's channeling Al Pacino in some of his films, this one being no exception. That said, his performance was the richest, most enjoyable of the whole movie. I think he did a great job with the material.
The rest of the cast did well too. There were scenes I truly enjoyed from each one of them, despite not loving the film wholeheartedly. Emily Mortimer is in this (see my review of Harry Brown), but again she shows quite a bit of insecurity. I'll admit that I've only seen her in three films including this one, but so far they all show a very soft, somewhat vulnerable person. I need to see some of her other work, before I make a solid judgment of her acting choices.
Alan Arkin is totally underutilized here. His role looked more like a cameo than anything else.
If you like to watch a bunch of Italian-American New Yorkers argue a lot, then this is your film. Otherwise, rent it or wait until it's on TV somewhere.
Starring: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, Dominik García-Lorido, Ezra Miller, Emily Mortimer, Alan Arkin
Director: Raymond De Felitta
Screenwriter: Raymond De Felitta
Sometimes before I write a review I'll troll around the internet to read others views of the film. It doesn't influence what I write about. Instead it inspires me to forge ahead with my own views.
A few critics complained that this film was too overloaded. I disagree. When you have a dysfunctional ensemble cast, and when the plot synopsis tells the audience that each family member has a secret, you're bound to have to follow a lot of subplots. In this day and age of Lost, Heroes, Flash Forward and all the other ensemble works out there, this is an inevitable path to be taken.
Ironically, I had a much harder time getting into the TV shows above than I did this movie. The multiple characters and their stories didn't bother me as much as some of the implausible, silly, and over-the-top scenes. I had trouble with the tension and the arguing, but I knew we'd get past that eventually. I was as uncomfortable as Tony (Steven Strait) who spends his first day in the Rizzo household listening to the yelling around the table between Vince Sr. (Andy Garcia), his wive Joyce (Julianna Margulies) and their kids (Dominik García-Lorido and Ezra Miller). The tension in the room was deeply felt by me, which means I guess it worked.
As for the secrets, yes they all have them, but they're not so monumental that they're unsolvable. That was the other complaint some critics had. They said the ending was predictable or too easy. My view is after all the hiding and arguing for an hour and forty minutes, resolving the problem is the only way to calm down from this roller coaster adventure. I loved the ending. It was the best part. Maybe it was the fact that the film was over, or the hope that they'd stop being so suspicious of each other.
The daughter, Vivian (I wonder if Joyce complained about how all the kids are somewhat named after her husband), has her own secret, but the plot device used in the film bothered me. She'd be on the phone complaining about how badly she wanted to get back to work. It's almost like she loved her job. She occasionally sounded as if she didn't enjoy college, which sort of defeats the ending.
Vince Jr., meanwhile, has a fetish, but he's also an annoying prat, who thinks he's better than anyone, but in the end I realized he just felt the same way toward his parents as they did each other. He was following their model. He wasn't proud of them, and thought they were as childish as he was.
I'm not going to do what the other critics do and give away the plot and its secrets, however, they're a bit on the unbelievable side. Some are really mild, such as smoking when they had said they had quit, etc. Others are somewhat more tangible and deal mainly with self-esteem issues, especially considering the fact that Joyce and Vince tend to argue about each other's lack of a college education and a real job.
There are parts that are a bit silly, like imitating Marlon Brando during an acting audition for a Martin Scorsese movie. What happened immediately after was fun and somewhat believable, but the Brando bit was ridiculous.
Some parts are endearing, like one involving the next door neighbor. At first one has to wonder where that was going, but soon enough it turns into a really nice side story.
Andy Garcia is a good actor and I often enjoy his work, although sometimes I wonder if he's channeling Al Pacino in some of his films, this one being no exception. That said, his performance was the richest, most enjoyable of the whole movie. I think he did a great job with the material.
The rest of the cast did well too. There were scenes I truly enjoyed from each one of them, despite not loving the film wholeheartedly. Emily Mortimer is in this (see my review of Harry Brown), but again she shows quite a bit of insecurity. I'll admit that I've only seen her in three films including this one, but so far they all show a very soft, somewhat vulnerable person. I need to see some of her other work, before I make a solid judgment of her acting choices.
Alan Arkin is totally underutilized here. His role looked more like a cameo than anything else.
If you like to watch a bunch of Italian-American New Yorkers argue a lot, then this is your film. Otherwise, rent it or wait until it's on TV somewhere.
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