City Island

“City Island” fails to provide knee-slapping comedy, but it still proves to be entertaining as the secrets of the Rizzo family unveil themselves.

“City Island” follows the life of Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) a Correctional Officer, a job more commonly known as a prison guard. He lives on City Island, a part of the Bronx with its own culture of clan-diggers and muscle-suckers. He and wife, Joyce (Juilanne Margulies) raise their children Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lordio) and Vince Jr. (Ezra Miller) in the same house that Vince’s grandfather built.

However, the family proves to be far from perfect. Everyone keeps a secret.

Vince pursues his dream to be an actor, by secretly taking acting lessons. Joyce continues smoking though Vince thinks she quits. Vivan works as a stripper so she can go back to college. Vince Jr. or Vinnie, skips school, smokes and has a strange fetish for large women.

To add to the mix, Vince takes home a prisoner, Tony Nardella (Steven Strait) who turns out to be Vince’s son from a previous relationship. However, Vince fails to tell Tony that he is Tony’s father. Tony also learns each of the family members’ secret and promises to keep them.

“City Island” provides a unique glimpse into the complex lives of the Rizzo family. It certainly puts the “fun” in dysfunctional. Every conversation between Vince and Joyce turns into an argument. Dinner time proves to be difficult time as well, as each member leaves (or sent to his or her room) until only Tony is left.

All actors possess the great ability to really dive into the unique personalities of their characters. They act almost like any other family, just trying to get along. Audiences can identify with the characters because they are real people with real problems.

Gracia, especially, portrays Vince with great emotion and character. Garcia plays Vince’s uncertainty about his acting abilities, his hard work to cover up all his secrets, even his regrets about leaving Tony as a child, perfectly.

Another stand out performance is provided by Margulies as she plays Joyce. Joyce attempts to keep her family together without falling apart herself. She also tries to figure out what Vince really does at his “Poker Games” trying not to think of the worst, when really he is only taking acting classes. Her character requires a lot of confusion, anger and her own break downs, and Margulies delivers.

The children are also portrayed well also. Vivian feels ashamed that the college kicked her out and about her job; she also just wants to get away from her family. Vinnie is a sarcastic, sassy teen who wants to be left alone, but still trying to find his identity.

The cinematography does a good job of showing the feelings of the actors. The camera also gives the audience a chance to look at the surroundings by providing shots of the city, ocean and beaches.

The score of “City Island” was composed well, adding to the more dramatic parts by giving it a low, serious tone, and contributing to the comedy by providing a lightness to it. All the while, it does not deter from the acting, but rather gives more to it and offers more emotion.

Also, the script, written by Raymond De Felitta, proves to be well-written providing lots of laughs, though often subtle. It tells the audience the family secrets and other occurring events, so as the plot moves and certain events take place, the audience knows what is happening and the characters do not. So the characters misunderstand these events, all the while the audience laughs for they know what is really going on.

The plot moves at the perfect pace, adding more and more complexities to it. It keeps viewers interest wondering what will happen next, and how characters will react.

Although labeled a comedy film, “City Island” contains a lot of dramatic elements that deal with bigger issues. In acting class, Vince meets Molly Charlesworth (Emily Mortimer) both talk about pains from their past and encourage each other to take the right steps to mend it.

The film also deals with the danger of keeping secrets and that even our “secret of secrets” will eventually come out. It shows how hard it is to constantly work to hide one’s secrets by showing all the characters hard work to continually cover up their secrets. It turns out to be more work to hide it, than simply tell the truth. It also reveals that living in house of secrets is really no way to live at all.

“City Island” proves to be smart, relaxing comedy that offers more than just comedy, with strong acting and humorous plot. This film is not one to be missed, and it available on DVD.