Andy Garcia plays an Italian-American prison guard from the Bronx, who yearns to be an actor in the mode of Marlon Brando, in this charming little movie that grew on me as it evolved to its satisfying ending. City Island played for a long, long run at the Chez Artiste in Denver, and I can see why: not because it’s a powerful drama or wonderfully abstract foreign film, but because it’s so gentle in showing human foibles and frailties – something a lot of us need right now.
Garcia’s character, Vince Rizzo, and his family, consisting of domineering wife (Julianna Margulies), daughter-who-unbeknownst-to-the-rest-of-the-family-is-a-stripper (Dominik García-Lorido), and son-with-a-sexual-hang-up (Ezra Miller), are all dissatisfied and a bit lost in their lives (who isn’t?). Vince is so petrified by his wife’s constant haranguing, he can’t even tell her of his acting aspirations, much less the acting class he must sneak off to regularly. On top of this, his acting teacher, played by Alan Arkin, is of the old, old school of acting, and believes that Marlon Brando was a mumbler who didn’t know how to act, i.e., read the lines cleanly. This is obviously anathema to Vince, who not only loves Brando, but is of the loud Bronx school of self-expression himself. When Vince goes to a Martin Scorsese casting call, he must deal with both sides of the acting coin.
And speaking of acting methods, I initially bridled when hit not only with the gale force of the Bronx accents, but also the sheer lung capacity with which they were delivered. However, as I grew accustomed to it, it seemed much more natural to the environment and to the characters involved. If they had all been genteel, or even just plain old New Yorkers, they really wouldn’t have fit the milieu or the striving of the Bronx lower-middle-class.
As someone I know said recently, all the really good films these days are so depressing. Well perhaps so, but herein lies a remedy: City Island – a well-acted charmer, sure to please. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]
Comedy/Drama
Rated PG-13
DVD Release Date: 8/26/10