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The idea behind comedy films can run the entire gamut, from slapstick to witty droll parlor humor. While some lean toward Airplane! and Austin Powers, others are more in an Annie Hall frame of mind. Each are wonderful and unique in their own ways, each craved by their prospective audience. But few travel down the road of a black comedy, a story of underhanded dealings where the worst aspects of man are put upon display. Going toward this idea is the nifty little gray (not totally black) comedy City Island.
The plot is a story of secrets. Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a prison guard who has a secret desire to be an actor. His wife Joyce (Juliana Margulies) knows that something is going on and thinks that Vince is having an affair. They have two kids, Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) and Vince Jr (Ezra Miller). Vivian has been off at college, or so the family thinks. In reality, she has lost her scholarship and has taken on a job to earn enough money to get back in school. Now the family wants to see her for Spring Break. Vince Jr. is discovering his sexuality with fantasies of heavy women, spying on the full figured neighbor.
One day Vince notices a kid Tony (Steven Strait) in the joint. With very little effort, Vince realizes that the kid is actually his long-lost son from a summer fling. This is something that Joyce has never known about. So Vince decides to take Tony home in order to finish out his parole and bond as dad and son.
With Tony in the house, secrets begin to escape and different aspects of personalities flare up. Joyce is attracted to Tony. Tony is attracted to Vivian. Vince begins a platonic relationship with Molly (Emily Mortimer), a fellow acting student who pushed him to go to an audition for a Martin Scorsese film. Alan Arkin plays the acting coach for Molly and Vince.
The entire plot revolves around how each relationship is pushed to degrees and depth never imagined by the participants. It is a Greek Tragedy that is also a Black Comedy. Writer/Director Raymond DeFelitta makes the film feel like an episode of a soap opera melded with one of those so-called ‘Comedy of Manners’, where misunderstandings build upon each other until the entire story structure gleefully collapses upon itself.
Andy Garcia is just note perfect with his reading of Vince. One feels the pain of not pursuing his dreams and the excitement of having a new female friend in his life. He loves his wife but still enjoys the company of Molly.
You have to love the performance of Juliana Margulies as Joyce. She’s a tough Italian-American with a strong, bitter way of looking at the world. She is just as disappointed in her life, never doing all the things she wanted to accomplish.
I wanted to see more of Emily Mortimer in City Island. As the acting student with a past, she has an interesting story that is never truly told. Wanting more from her gives the audience a very unsatisfying feeling. On the opposite side, Ezra Miller’s part feels almost tacked on, as if the film makers felt that they needed to have every body with a problem. It just becomes a little too much. Alan Arkin is just wasted in a role that could have been done by anyone. An actor of his caliber should be given much more to do.
On City Island there are two kinds of people, clam diggers and mussel suckers – meaning local natives and move-ins. In the cinematography of the film, the production is so perfect that one wants to move there. It is captured in such vivid tones that is becomes a postcard for the area. I had never even heard of this place, but with this movie, I’d love to visit.
City Island is a great little slice of life flick and a very strong recommendation for those who love the Art House fair. Some may find it too hard, but it is nowhere as mean and violent as War of the Roses. That film did something that this film did not do – go for the jugular. This one just nips at the neck without sinking in fangs deep.
