City Island

Yes! Finally, a movie we can sink our teeth into! City Island directed by Raymond de Felitta is a wonderfully entertaining movie about an Italian working class family who could be any of us.

Andy Garcia plays Vince Rizzo, a correctional facility guard in New York’s City Island. He discovers one of the inmates is his son – at 20, he had walked out on his mother before he was born. He is due for release but must be released to family so Vince decides to atone for his past, and bring him into the family. Initially, he doesn’t share the truth about his son, Tony Nardella (played by Stephen Strait) with his family; this being one of many secrets he withholds. Add to this a secret acting class each week because he dreams of becoming an actor, and smoking out the bathroom skylight because his wife doesn’t know he still smokes!

We soon discover that like any normal, mildly dysfunctional family, there are a number of secrets just below the surface of this loveable cast. Julianna Marguiles plays Joyce Rizzo who portrays the tough Italian wife and mother in a tender, vulnerable light that reveals much about her and Vince’s relationship. British actor Emily Mortimer plays Vince’s friend Molly.

Ezra Miller plays Vince Jr. and keeps the laughs coming every time he speaks. A quirky, odd, teenager whose one liners directed at his sister Vivienne (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) were clever and hysterical. When he was in the scene, the dialogue was quick and witty.

This is a wonderful story, much like Little Miss Sunshine in that normally shocking incidents are presented so carefully and by family members that are so loveable, you find yourself laughing anyway. We rooted for the family as the web of secrets got more and more intricate and we knew things would come crashing down.

Eventually, the story plays out as it should, and the secrets are all revealed in a scene that will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. As it came to an end, we realized we had been thoroughly entertained by the Rizzo Family for almost two hours.

The title, City Island is an oxymoron. To us, city implies the busy energy of people intersecting and co-existing, while island evokes images of isolation. The symbolism of this title (City Island really does exist by the way) is very clever – the secrets keep the family members isolated from each other and they all continue their daily lives together but  alone because of their secrets. Once out on the table, the revealed secrets bring them together and they begin their new authentic and crazy lives with an intersecting city-like energy.

A Rave Review loved this movie and rated it 4 out of 5.