+ Best New York Movie of the Year
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| A neat mix of photography and drawing that gives hints to the secrets of the characters in Raymond De Felitta's City Island |
QUICK REVIEW:
Outside of New York City, on City Island, lives a family of convinced liars. The father hides his secret son in a shed and secretly attends acting classes in the city. The mother flirts with infidelity. The daughter strips. And the son has a kink. - And they all secretly smoke.
City Island is a wonderfully written gem of coming clean and finding a way to come together. Importantly, it never becomes viscid in any way, but retains realism throughout. It is incredibly well-acted: Particularly by Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife (2009-15)), Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and Andy Garcia (Rob The Mob (2014)) as the film's super-involved dream leader, who shows the way for the rest of the cast without shaking for a millisecond.
City Island is a highly engaging, funny, exciting modern dramedy classic. - Don't miss this masterpiece!
It is written and directed by New York-born filmmaker Raymond De Felitta, who debuted in 1995 with Cafe Society, after being Oscar-nominated for his short Bronx Cheers (1990). He has made other features and a couple of documentaries since, and most recently Rob the Mob, (regrettably) still to be found high on Film Excess' watch list.
Film Excess favorite Miller's turn in the long-awaited Madame Bovary (2014) has been released last year, but only very limited so far. This year he will be seen in Judd Apatow's much-anticipated Trainwreck (2015), - again alongside Tilda Swinton, - and in the eerily sounding The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), alongside a slew of other young, happening actors. - Exciting!
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| Andy Garcia brought down in Raymond De Felitta's City Island |
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| The lovely Ezra Miller in Raymond De Felitta's City Island |
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| Andy Garcia studies Brando on this character poster for Raymond De Felitta's City Island |
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| Julianna Margulies raises her glass on this character poster for Raymod De Felitta's City Island |
Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 7.8 mil. $
= Big flop
[The film won the Audience Award at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, but, unfortunately, it wasn't able to broaden its success out much. It made 6.6 mil. $ (85 % of the total gross) in the States.]
What do you think of City Island?
Have you seen other films by Raymond De Felitta?
If so, tell about it/them
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