City by the Sea is directed by Michael Caton-Jones and adapted to screenplay by Ken Hixon from the article Mark of a Murderer written by Michael McAlary. It stars Robert De Niro, James Franco, Eilza Dushku, Frances McDormand, George Dzundza and William Forsythe. Music is scored by John Murphy and cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub.
Based on a true story, plot finds De Niro as Vincent LaMarca, a veteran New York cop who carries around the burden of being the son of an executed child killer. Though comfortable in his life, where he gets on with his cop partner and has a romantic relationship with a lady in his apartment block, things quickly grow dark when it transpires that Vincent's estranged son Joey (Franco), a drug user out at Long Beach, has apparently committed murder.
With the trailers at the time of release wrongly hinting at some explosive cop drama, and with De Niro's standing as a serious drama actor on the wane, City by the Sea has pretty much failed to inspire some steadfast support from 2002 onwards. Yet it's well worth inspection by those film fans who appreciate a crisp screenplay and top line acting.
De Niro is on form, without doubt, but he is clearly helped by having actors around him who can compete on the same terms. There's a believability to the core relationships in the film, be it De Niro and Franco as father and son, or De Niro and McDormand as lovers, the writing calls for actors of strength to hold court and make this dialogue heavy picture worth attention. And they do, very much so.
Narratively the piece thrives on irony and the great old noir staple of past events looming large over a protagonist. Primarily it's about how Vincent deals with the splinters of his past suddenly surfacing in his life. This proves to make the film more a drama than a thriller, there are no high octane deaths and dismemberment's, no back street alleyway wackings, this is very much a character driven, unpretentious and emotionally affecting movie.
Just like his actors, Caton-Jones is perfectly restrained, his direction has a nice flow that aids the story, no tricks are needed to beef up the human interest. He allows the principal character's stories to build, making sure that Hixon's adult screenplay comes to the fore; that character reactions are not twee or too far fetched. In fact it's very refreshing to see the way McDormand's girlfriend reacts to the "new" information she has to deal with in her love life. Visually there's some lovely work by Lindenlaub (Rob Roy), where nightscapes and a red sunset stand tall and proud, and Murphy's score is thankfully unobtrusive given the nature of the story. 7/10
Based on a true story, plot finds De Niro as Vincent LaMarca, a veteran New York cop who carries around the burden of being the son of an executed child killer. Though comfortable in his life, where he gets on with his cop partner and has a romantic relationship with a lady in his apartment block, things quickly grow dark when it transpires that Vincent's estranged son Joey (Franco), a drug user out at Long Beach, has apparently committed murder.
With the trailers at the time of release wrongly hinting at some explosive cop drama, and with De Niro's standing as a serious drama actor on the wane, City by the Sea has pretty much failed to inspire some steadfast support from 2002 onwards. Yet it's well worth inspection by those film fans who appreciate a crisp screenplay and top line acting.
De Niro is on form, without doubt, but he is clearly helped by having actors around him who can compete on the same terms. There's a believability to the core relationships in the film, be it De Niro and Franco as father and son, or De Niro and McDormand as lovers, the writing calls for actors of strength to hold court and make this dialogue heavy picture worth attention. And they do, very much so.
Narratively the piece thrives on irony and the great old noir staple of past events looming large over a protagonist. Primarily it's about how Vincent deals with the splinters of his past suddenly surfacing in his life. This proves to make the film more a drama than a thriller, there are no high octane deaths and dismemberment's, no back street alleyway wackings, this is very much a character driven, unpretentious and emotionally affecting movie.
Just like his actors, Caton-Jones is perfectly restrained, his direction has a nice flow that aids the story, no tricks are needed to beef up the human interest. He allows the principal character's stories to build, making sure that Hixon's adult screenplay comes to the fore; that character reactions are not twee or too far fetched. In fact it's very refreshing to see the way McDormand's girlfriend reacts to the "new" information she has to deal with in her love life. Visually there's some lovely work by Lindenlaub (Rob Roy), where nightscapes and a red sunset stand tall and proud, and Murphy's score is thankfully unobtrusive given the nature of the story. 7/10