Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Capone, you magnificent bastard, thanks for the reviews. Nice to hear from you. Hope your Life In Crime is as rewarding as mine recently. I’ve always admired your style, particularly that trick with the baseball bat...
Hey, Moriarty. Capone in Chicago here, back on the job, newly married, strikingly tan, and desperately trying to catch up on all the new films. Here are a couple of note...
CITY BY THE SEA
After a string of highly successful comedies (MEET THE PARENTS, ANALYZE THIS), a couple of not-so-successful ones (ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, SHOWTIME), and a couple of overblown actioners thrown in for good measure (THE SCORE, 15 MINUTES), the great Robert DeNiro has done something I wasn’t sure he’d do again: acted in a film where he plays an actual character, one with depth, flaws, and real problems. CITY BY THE SEA is a long-awaited and much-appreciated return to form for DeNiro, and it watching, all I could think was, “Thank goodness.”
Not that there aren’t a few attempts in this “based-on-fact” tale to push things a little to far into the Hollywood action genre. Thankfully, someone in power let the story speak for itself and let DeNiro take his time unfolding his character. We don’t learn everything we need to know about Det. Vincent LaMarca in his first five minutes of screentime. LaMarca is a well-respected cop whose past alone is the stuff of crime novels. His father was executed in the 1950s for kidnapping and inadvertently killing a child.
To make up for his father’s doings, Vincent became a cop. Not long after the birth of his only son, LaMarca left his wife and child in Long Beach, New York, as that town’s economic collapse began. (Bruce Springsteen fans will immediately recognize Asbury Park, N.J., as the Long Beach stand-in here.) As a result of the divorce, Vincent is estranged from his son, Joey (nicely played by SPIDER-MAN’s James Franco). As a 20-something young man, Joey becomes a drug addict and knocks up his girlfriend (Eliza Dushku).
The film opens with Joey killing a noted drug dealer in self defense and dumping his body in the river. When police discover the body washed up on Manhattan’s shore, the trail leads back to Joey. Coincidentally, the case belongs to Vincent, and he attempts to bring Joey in on his own. In the search, Vincent’s partner (George Dzundza) is murdered by another drug dealer (William Forsythe), but everyone thinks Joey did it. Vincent is taken off the case, but he continues to search for his son fearing that if the wrong cop finds him, his son will be treated like a cop killer.
But that’s only half the story of CITY BY THE SEA, and it’s not necessarily the most interesting half.
When he’s not out solving crimes, Vincent has a sweet but non-committal relationship with Michelle (Frances McDormand), a downstairs neighbor in his apartment building, whom he escorts home safety from work everyday, takes to dinner, and usually sleeps with (although never spending the night). I could have watched an entire film about this couple and their guarded conversations. DeNiro and McDormand are a perfect match for each other as actors. She tries to pry a little; he backs off. It’s touching and perfect. The scene where he finally confesses his family’s history to her is devastating. Director Michael Caton-Jones (who worked with DeNiro before in THIS BOY’S LIFE) has crafted a character study out of what might have been a run-of-the-mill cop chases bad guy film. And I haven’t even mentioned the acerbic scenes between DeNiro and Patti LuPone as his ex-wife. Ouch! Not a lot of love in that room.
CITY BY THE SEA comes a bit unraveled in the third act as the story lays on the emotions pretty thick. DeNiro’s character wants so badly to be a good dad before his son takes one in the back of the head that he actually utters the line “I love you, son.” And things were going so well up to that point.
The final stand-off scene between police and Joey is borderline laughable (and it also never happened in real-life). It is, however, highly forgivable since the rest of the film is so strong. As I look at DeNiro’s agenda for the next year or so (the sequels ANALYZE THAT, MEET THE FOCKERS), I say to his fans: savor DeNiro the actor while you can; it may be a while.
SWIMMING
After a couple of years of hopping from festival to festival for about two years, it looks like Robert J. Siegel's SWIMMING is finally getting the release it deserves, if only so we can all get a glimpse of the exquisite performance by Lauren Ambrose (from HBO's "Six Feet Under," which this film clearly pre-dates). Ambrose is Frankie, a quiet freak. She's the only pale resident in the overly tanned community of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; she's the film's only red head; she's the only female we see wearing clothes that show almost no skin; and the only one who doesn't make a habit out of sleeping around. In any other place in America, she might be considered the good girl or at least average. In this town, she's an anomaly.
In any other movie, she might be a peripheral character, especially compared to her two constant companions, Nicola (Jennifer Dundas Lowe), a punky blonde who runs a piercing parlor; and Josee (Joelle Carter), a beautiful newcomer to the town, who has every boy tripping over each other to be with her. Smartly, the film focuses on Frankie, who lives with her older brother's family and works in the family restaurant. She resents her brother (Josh Pais) for essentially taking over the business that should be half hers. It's clear that Frankie is also no stranger to rejection, which makes her no less vulnerable. An early scene of Frankie calling a boy she'd like to "hang out with" is nothing short of crushing. We never hear his side of the conversation, but from the shattered look on Frankie's face, we know exactly what he's saying. Another scene set in a club show just how totally out of her element Frankie is among people, especially drunken and stoned revelers.
Frankie and Nicola are always together, despite the fact that Nicola typically dumps Frankie whenever a cute guy crosses her path. When Josee enters the picture as a waitress at the dinner, Frankie (like all the men in Myrtle Beach) falls for her, if only because she's someone new. Nicola and Josee immediately clash, and this causes additional stress on Frankie's already fragile soul.
SWIMMING doesn't have much by way of a plot. Characters drift in and out of Frankie's life, and we learn about her a little bit at a time based on her reactions to these people. There isn't even much by way of noticeable growth in any of the characters here, but that's life and I enjoy seeing that every so often. Ambrose delivers a quiet yet shining performance as a teenager lost in her own skin and in a life she clearly would not have chosen for herself. She only smiles in the presence of a friendly tie-dyed shirt salesdude named Heath (the goofy buy likeable Jamie Harrold). And once you see her smile, she'll capture your heart. (Can you tell I'm a little in love with Ambrose?) SWIMMING is a slight, slip of a film that may enter and exit your town before you even realize it's there. Don't let this happen. For all its seeming weightlessness, there is a lovely core to this film that will move you.
If you’d like to move my lovely core, please write me. I’m married... doesn’t mean I’m dead!!
Capone
