Dir.
Michael Caton-Jones, 2002, US, 108 mins
Cast: Robert De Niro, Frances McDormand, James Franco, Eliza Dushku, William Forsythe, Patti LuPone
If you're a fan of Robert De Niro and have become somewhat weary of his newly found status as a comedy actor, there's good news and bad. The good news is that this 2002 release, in which he stars, is a drama with very few laughs. The bad news is that it's not an especially memorable film, for all the efforts of its talented cast.
The city by the sea is New York. More precisely, it's Long Beach, once a popular, fashionable district, but now rundown and graffiti-strewn and home to drug addicts like Joey LaMarca (James Franco). On a dark and stormy night, Joey kills a dealer. When the body is discovered the next day, the investigation is led by one Vincent Lamarca (De Niro), who not only happens to be one of the NYPD's finest, but Joey's father as well.
By the time Vincent discovers who the prime suspect is, you should know where this film is going. At some point, Vincent is going to have to choose between his loyalty to his profession and his love for his son (albeit a son he abandoned when the boy was a teenager). But if this isn't obvious to you, don't worry. In the first scene between De Niro and Franco, Joey asks his father the killer question: "Are you a cop or my father?"
Although the murder is the centrepiece of the story, City by the Sea is less a crime drama than an examination of a father-son relationship. There's an interesting parallel with De Niro's relationship with his real-life son, which gives the scenes where Vincent reveals his past (to his girlfriend Michelle, played by Frances McDormand) more weight than they might otherwise have. But even with this added dimension, Ken Hixon's screenplay treads familiar ground and the eventual reconciliation between Vincent and Joey is rather telegraphed by the insertion of one Spyder (William Forsythe) as a the 'real' villain. This is a shame, because a greater focus on, and acknowledgement of, Joey's wrongdoings would have opened up some intriguing possibilities for the story.
For much of the film, but especially in the first hour, director Michael Caton-Jones has to rely on overbearing music and plenty of dark photography to create the appropriate mood. Fortunately, though, his cast rises above the considerable limitations of the script. De Niro and McDormand handle some dubious dialogue with aplomb, and the former's screen presence is as forceful as ever. Franco and Eliza Dushku (as Joey's girlfriend, Gina) do enough to suggest that their future roles may be worth watching out for. And Forsythe manages to avoid overacting too badly in the most one-dimensional of roles.
City by the Sea is slow, often dreary going. The final half-hour is brisker and suggests that this film may have amounted to something substantial. As it stands, though, there is little to offer here.
Justin Whitton
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