CITY ISLAND 4.0**** out of 4****
It's a rare, exhilarating experience to see a film and not find a single false note within. This is one of the best written, perfectly acted, impeccably directed movies I have seen in a long while. It has a feeling of familiarity, and yet is surprising at EVERY moment, taking your expectations and turning them in the most interesting and unique ways. The story has the potential to be unbelievable and over the top, and it could have been a disaster in the wrong hands, but very early on you find yourself feeling so 'happy' with what transpires, that you are completely drawn in by the brilliance that's displayed. Achingly funny, and sweet without being too sentimental, it is an amazing piece of work. In creating the special world of 'City Island’, Director Raymond De Felitta has given us rainbow of universal emotions. Secrets, lies, miscommunication, love, and most of all, family, and make that a LOUD but loving Italian family.

City Island (2009) is a comedy/drama that gives us a glimpse into the lives of a somewhat dysfunctional but still quite lovable family from City Island, New York – and in this family everybody has a secret. Vince Rizzo Andy Garcia) is a mid-life corrections officer who wants to be an actor and is married to Joyce (Julianna Margulies). Joyce doesn't know his aspirations and suspects he is having an affair. Vivian (the daughter) and Vince Jr. (the son) have their own secrets as well, and Molly (Emily Mortimer),Vince's acting partner) is a slightly mysterious character we are never quite sure we understand. For the Rizzo family, things begin to unravel when Vince brings Tony home from jail to live with the family – based on yet another secret. It is only as all these secrets come out that the family can move forward together, and that is where the real center of power and meaning is for this film - in watching the characters grow, change, and respond to one another as the film progresses, and as the secrets are unveiled.

All the performances are quite good but Andy Garcia's performance as the gentle soul just trying to do right in the world keeps this marvelous soap opera as entertaining as you can ask for. I don't know if City Island will ever get the credit it deserves (it’s only playing at the independent movie houses), but in my opinion Andy Garcia's performance in City Island is the stuff that Oscars are made of.
So, grab on to your cinematic passport and get on that pleasurable movie cruise to "City Island”….it’s excellent.

It’s rated PG-13 for sexual content, smoking and language.

Clark