City by the Sea

 3.5/4

Starring: Robert DeNiro, James Franco, Frances McDormand, George Dzundza, Eliza Dushku, William Forsythe, Patti LuPone, Anson Mount

Rated R for Language, Drug Use and Some Violence

You can't change the past.  No matter how much you regret it and how badly you want to, what's done is done.  Things change.  Those happy days on the beach with your family from when you were a kid are gone.  They exist only in your memory.  And that kid you were beat up in school still bears those scars even after 25 years.

But...if a person is lucky, they may get a second chance.

Vincent LaMarca (DeNiro) has shut down.  He's a cop working long past his retirement simply because he doesn't know how to do anything else.  In reality, though, it's the only thing that prevents him from dealing with life.  When things get tough, he walks away and builds a wall around it.  It's a way to prevent the pain from reaching him.  And he has a lot of demons.  His previous marriage to Maggie (LuPone) ended on awful terms (and they haven't improved since).  He hasn't seen his son Joey (Franco) in years.  And he finds it difficult to maintain a relationship with the woman downstairs (McDormand) because he won't let her into his life.  Joey is a heroin addict, and his involvement in a murder will force Vincent to make a choice: run away like always or confront his problems head on.

"City by the Sea" was marketed as a murder mystery with an exciting trailer that promised lots and lots of suspense and action.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  This is a drama, and a bleak one at that.  The crime element is simply something that generates change in Vincent and Joey.  It's a risky move, especially in an ensemble story like this, but the cast and crew pull it off.

Robert DeNiro is an electrifying actor, but since his heyday passed, he's picked bad roles or dumb comedies.  To be sure, DeNiro can be hilarious if he wants to be ("Meet the Parents," the underrated "Dirty Grandpa"), but when it comes to drama, few actors can match him.  Here, in a wonderfully written part, DeNiro is in top form.  He takes the traditional stereotype of a man who can't express himself (incidentally my least favorite writer's cliche) and breathes life into it.  The only scene where he falters is when Vincent gets choked up (no spoilers).

His co-star, James Franco, has had a career that is wildly uneven.  His acting has ranged from excellent ("127 Hours") to flat ("Oz: The Great and Powerful") to awful ("The Interview").  This is one of his better performances.  As Joey, Franco adds little touches of human behavior to ensure that we empathize with him.  We get the sense that he's not a bad person, just someone with rotten luck and a drug-addled mind.  But he tries to do the right thing for his girlfriend Gina (Dushku) and son.

Frances McDormand doesn't have a lot to do, but she makes the most of it.  She loves Vincent (up to a point) and while she eventually understands why he is the way he is, one senses there's only so much that she will take.  McDormand uses her eyes and body language to make Michelle into such a particular person that she can go toe to toe with DeNiro.  Her storyline is left hanging, unfortunately, and that's the biggest flaw of the movie.

One interesting thing that director Michael Caton-Jones does is create a parallel with the Vincent/Joey relationship and the history of Long Island.  When Joey was a kid, Long Island was a weekend getaway, teeming with life and happiness.  Now it's a shadow of its former self; a burned out husk selling nothing but drugs and decay.  Likewise, Vincent and Joey are strangers bonded only by mutual feelings of pain and regret.

Apparently Caton-Jones was not happy with how this movie turned out.  Although I loved this movie as is, it would be interesting to see his true vision.  As is, it's a rewarding experience.  But not a happy one.

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