CITY ISLAND (2009) *** The big concern about casting Andy Garcia in a movie with a bunch of people who aren't quite as celebrated...Mr. Garcia has a reputation for being great, and a tendency to back it up. Will they be able to act with him. Here, I'm delighted to say, the answer is yes. Julianna Margulies stands toe-to-toe, literally and aesthetically, inducing streams of spasms of exactly the spectrum of responses that she's drilling for. Ezra Miller has this incredible gift of a role, and if he leaves any of it unrealized it's because it's a slacker role, he wades about through it like a happy piglet in muck, and that's a wonderful thing to see. Steven Strait holds his scenes with Andy, which might initially strike you as improbable, though he occasionally gets caught in a bad scene: again, not acting badly, just thrust into a situation that there's not much to do with. To be fair, same thing happens to Andy. I can't think of exactly what it is that Dominik Garcia-Lorido does really right, other than somehow leaving you with exactly the conception of who her character is. Which is kind of the right and weird of how it all works: it's character driven. City Island is a fascinating milieu, but after gaining our attention it's all but abandoned. Which is too bad, because it's apparently a magical place. Could the film's quirkiness have been complemented and magnified with quirky little shots of a quirky little place, bringing a smile to your face just before the fine actors brought it home? Probably, but it also had the potential of distraction or momentum-destruction. Film works well just as it is. So they build up these great characters in this situation full of possibility...there's no question from early on that they're building up for a big bang final scene. It does not disappoint, but I'm pretty sure that Strait owes Andy Garcia one of those friendly, masculine bonding right cross to the jaws. And then the smile and the hug.
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