Taglines: Truth is stranger than family.
Living on City Island, in the Bronx, Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia), a prison guard, is the father of a dysfunctional family whose members all have secrets. Vince discovers that his secret illegitimate son is now the 24-year-old prison inmate Tony Nardella (Steven Strait) who is being held in the same prison where he works.
Without revealing this truth to his family, Vince consequently gets Tony out of prison and employs him as hired help at his own home in order to become closer with his unknowing son. Vince has also been secretly taking acting lessons, taught by Michael Malakov (Alan Arkin), and begins to form a platonic bond with Molly (Emily Mortimer), an aspiring actress.
Meanwhile, Vince’s 20-year-old daughter, Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorido, the real-life daughter of Andy García, her on-screen father), has not told her family that she has been suspended from college, lost her scholarship, gotten breast implants, and become a stripper to try to pay for her next semester; their youngest teenage child, Vinnie (Ezra Miller), has a secret sexual fetish for feeding women (feederism), and fantasizes about their fat next-door neighbor; and Vince’s wife, Joyce (Julianna Margulies), thinking she has lost all marital intimacy, sexually pursues Tony without realizing that he is her stepson.
Set on City Island, a quaint fishing community on the outskirts of the Bronx, this smart and charming comedy explores the absurd secrets and vices people choose to keep from their loved ones…and the realization that the truth is easier to cope with than well-intentioned white lies.
City Island is a funny and touching family tale about the secrets of the past catching up with the lies of the present, and accepting that nobody’s perfect – least of all your loved ones.
City Island is an American comedy-drama film directed and written by Raymond De Felitta and starring Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies and Alan Arkin. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 26, 2009. The title refers to the Bronx’s City Island, where the film is set.
City Island (2010)
Directed by: Raymond De Felitta
Starring: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer, Ezra Miller, Steven Strait, Emily Mortimer, Alan Arkin, Louis Mustillo, Dominik García-Lorido, Carrie Baker Reynolds, Sarah Saltzberg
Screenplay by: Raymond De Felitta
Production Design by: Franckie Diago
Cinematography by: Vanja Cernjul
Film Editing by: David Leonard
Costume Design by: Tere Duncan
Set Decoration by: Kelley Burney
Art Direction by: Sorangel Fersobe
Music by: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, smoking and language.
Studio: Anchor Bay Films
Release Date: March 19, 2010