Posted: 09/12/2002

City by the Sea

(2002)

by Hope Villanueva

Nicely plotted suspense thriller with star cast and one fatal flaw.

James Franco was hand picked by Robert De Niro to play his son in this film. If that doesn’t peak your interest in this young actor, nothing will.

City by the Sea, while having the appearance and tone of a cop/action movie, is actually a character driven drama about father-son relationships. Based on a true story written up in Esquire magazine titled “Mark of a Murderer,” the film follows Vince LaMarca (De Niro), an upstanding Manhattan police Lieutenant who left his wife and son many years before. His ex-wife (Patti LuPone) made it very difficult for Vince to see his son and they did not speak for years. Now in his early twenties, his son, Joey (Franco), is a drug addict living in an abandoned casino in Long Beach, NY, barely scraping by. In a drug-induced haze, Joey accidentally kills a drug dealer in a fight. The body turns up in Vince’s territory and Joey is pegged as the prime suspect, not to mention that he is being hunted by the drug dealer’s boss, too. Now Vince must find his elusive son and bring him to justice.

Helmed by Michael Caton-Jones of Rob Roy and Memphis Belle, City by the Sea boasts a cast teeming with talent. The cast is headlined by Robert De Niro, who turns in a believable performance as Vince. His recent comedic turns in movies like Analyze This and Meet the Parents have left their mark on his work, giving a wry, humorous edge to a very grim film. The entire theater stifled surprised laughter when Vince shuts down his ex-wife in an early scene. As always, his dramatic work is gripping and fascinating to watch. Frances Mcdormand is woefully underused in her role as Vince’s love interest, Michelle. Though her character seems to have been created solely as a narrative device, Mcdormand’s abilities allow her to carry it off gracefully. Supporting roles are well carried by George Dzundza as Vince’s partner, William Forsythe as the drug dealer hunting Joey and Anson Mount as the uncorrupted, new cop on the force.

As experienced and talented as the older cast members are, the two younger members come out with fists flying. Bringing a breath of fresh air to the circle of young, new actors are James Franco and Elisa Dushku. Dushku is known to TV audiences as Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and in this film, plays Joey’s ex-girlfriend, Gina. She creates a sympathetic character out of her ex-addict gone straight, without being a fluffy character. Franco, who stood opposite Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker in this year’s Spider-man, also played James Dean in a television movie. It was this role that garnered De Niro’s attention, and rightfully so. Franco&’s Joey is so completely a creature of the streets that he is almost unrecognizable to those who saw him in Spider-man. Like De Niro, he seems to be able to immerse himself in his role and held his ground solidly and admirably opposite the acting legend. My prediction is that he shows off more darkness in the Spider-man sequel as Spidey’s next nemesis. He is the type of young actor that De Niro and the other great actors of his generation could be proud to hand the keys to the city.

The weak link in the films chain is the dialogue. Penned by Ken Hixon, the script has a heavy load to pull, as it is inspired by a true story, and one that stretches the bounds of coincidence and believability. Most of the time, it does work, no doubt because of the skill of the actors speaking the lines, but there is often a sense of preaching that sneaks into the script. Nothing too overwhelming, but writing that would work in the theater but is a little harder to buy on the screen. Sometimes it was bothersome, others not, but the script could have done without those moments.

In either case, City by the Sea does deal with its themes bravely. Michelle has to cope with a relationship in which she is shut out of certain things and what happens when she is suddenly let in on all the secrets. Joey is trying to find a way out of the street life while having his father’s presence thrust upon him. Vince is trying to understand what his relationship to his son is and is learning how his past with his own father has affected his relationship with Joey. Each relationship is rich and layered and definitely enough to make the film worth watching. If nothing else, the De Niro/Franco scenes are a display of acting as artistry to be watched and learned from.

Hope Villanueva is a theatrical jack-of-all-trades living in Los Angeles, CA, who spends spare time trying to find ways around paying for parking in Santa Monica.

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