City by the Sea

Drug addict Joey LaMarca (James Franco) defends himself and kills dealer Picasso. He is injured and goes home to his skeptical mother (Patti LuPone). His estranged father NYPD homicide detective Vincent LaMarca (Robert De Niro) and his partner Reg Duffy (George Dzundza) are given the case of the dead drug dealer. Spyder (William Forsythe) is also after his associate's killer. Michelle (Frances McDormand) is Vincent's girlfriend. Gina (Eliza Dushku) is Joey's girlfriend and baby mama. Fellow addict Snake rats out Joey.

There are good actors doing solid work. This material could be given a more grim style. This represents a slow slide in the quality of director Michael Caton-Jones. This should be a more intense thriller and a more heart-breaking tragedy. I keep thinking that this movie should be better. The biographical nature does muddy the story. There is an overall lack of intensity.

Vincent LaMarca's job is to arrest killers, but this job is different. The suspect he is tracking is his own son. As a cop, LaMarca must bring the accused to justice. As a father he must try and help his son. However LaMarca owes his son more than that as he walked out on him and he is also plagued by his own bad memories of his father and how he was executed for murder.

This film starred: Robert De Niro, James Franco & Frances McDormand.

City By The Sea was released in 2002. When I saw the trailers for this film I thought it was going to be really good. With a great actor like De Niro and an up-coming star in James Franco I was really expecting good things from this movie. However, in my opinion this film didn't deliver. It was OK but it bored me some parts and apart from the end scene I wasn't as moved as what I had expected from this film. I don't recommend this film because you will probably be left disappointed.

***/***** Could be worse.

"City by the Sea" starring Robert DeNiro and Frances McDormand (Fargo & Almost Famous) is an exciting and heartfelt melodrama. Director Michael Caton-Jones proves himself with one of his greatest efforts to date, bouncing back from his previous disappointing and misdirected film "The Jackal." Caton-Jones displays a style all his own with stunning atmospheric poignancy. The city by the sea, to which the film refers to is Long Island, N.Y., a wonderfully lonely and dilapidated city to where junkie Jimmy Nova, (DeNiro's son) calls home.

DeNiro plays a well-respected cop with a terribly troubled past that seems to constantly haunt him. His ex-wife, played by Patti Lupone, struggles to get over the violence of their past relationship while his son, played by James Franco, is headed down the same path as DeNiro's father once was, that of an (alleged?) murderer. Jimmy Nova, as he's known around town mixes with the wrong crowd, as do most junkies, and one night finds himself struggling for his life, and before he knows it, stabbing and killing a high profile drug dealer. This relatively small act of self-defense cascades a sequence of irreversible events, which never seem to let up until the end. DeNiro, of course, is assigned to the case and unknowingly hunts down his own son who he hasn't seen or heard from in several years. Both father and son have moved on with their lives since their seperation, but still harbor intense emotional feelings for each other that seem to slowly emerge further and further into the film. To top it all off the two men are involved in complex relationships of their own which naturally complicates things further.

DeNiro's relationship with Frances McDormand seems quite convenient at times, but nonetheless shows the tenderness and compassion of both characters, while Franco's relationship feels more like a fling with multiple strings attached. In the end, both DeNiro and his son must face the issues that have plagued them for three generations and make one of the hardest decisions of their life.

Similar topics and themes in "City by the Sea", were explored in "Road to Perdition", however it is the way that they are explored that keeps the film feeling fresh and unique. Similar themes explored are the father-son relationship, the destructive path of violence and crime, and most importantly the will and courage to fight for a second chance at life. I was particularly impressed with the atmospheric mood of New York that Caton-Jones set from the beginning, reminiscent of Scorcese's "Taxi Driver", thus giving the film the reality that many recent Hollywood films tend to lack. The acting in this film is of the highest quality and will not be overlooked, contending with so

Straight-laced detective Vincent LaMarca(a pained and restrained Robert DeNiro) has already lived a disrupted and uneven life of broken relationships and the memory of his dad who was imprisoned and executed for the death(later deemed accidental)of a kid that he had kidnapped). As if that weren't enough to bear,his troubled son Joey(JAmes Franco) has ran away and faces trouble with both the law and the baddies,particularly a vile thug named Spyder(William Forsythe). This is the general construct of director Michael Caton-JOnes' and screenwriter Ken Hixon's film. Set in an unspecified part of New Jersey(though one might infer that it's Atlantic City,given the title),this film is mostly character study,with actors Franco,Eliza Dushku(As Joey's scared girlfriend)and Forsythe making the most of their characters,while DeNiro and Frances McDormand(as DeNiro's patient friend and lover) provide fine,if not exception,performances in this drama. Good for a viewing or two. 8 out of 10

This is a very good movie. I do not understand why so many of the comments here are negative. The plot is great with no holes. The characters are well developed and the acting is top notch. Maybe the lack of computer animation or computer generated special effects or car chases or machine guns blazing away turned some of you off. If you like dramas that are heavy on acting and character development, you will like this movie. The filming locations are very fascinating too. I am not sure where the boardwalk scenes are filmed (Asbury NJ or Yonkers NY) but it looks just like a formerly popular beach front local, that is now a ghost town. Very underrated by the IMDb voters.