By Douglas Pratt Pratt@moviecitynews.com
DVD Geek: City Island
Do not touch the ‘Eject’ button during the first 20 minutes of City Island, a wonderful film about a dysfunctional family that has been released by Anchor Bay Films. You may be sorely tempted to cut the movie short at the beginning, because to set things up it regurgitates seemingly tiresome stereotypes—the husband and wife, played by Andy Garcia and Julianna Margulies, fighting; the son in his bedroom surfing porn; the daughter leading a secret life—but there is then a terrific and quite unexpected plot turn, and it is not saying too much that a convicted felon, played by Steven Strait, enters the household and, almost in Teorama fashion, solves everyone’s problems. The 2009 film is set in a little Utopian nook in The Bronx and, running 104 minutes, it feeds off of its New York energy, but as resistant as you may be to any part of it at first, once that plot hook sinks in, you’re caught for the duration and happily so, every step of the way.
The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer looks fresh and sharp. The 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound brings a workable dimensionality to the music and environmental sounds, but is not a significant factor in the entertainment. There are optional English and Spanish subtitles, 16 minutes of good but sensibly removed deleted scenes, and a 16-minute retrospective discussion about the film with Garcia, Margulies, Strait, co-star Dominik García-Lorido and director Raymond De Felitta, who sit around a dining table, eating and talking about their experiences with the film. It is a terrific format, because they really let their guards down, at least a bit, and it would be nice to see more such supplements accompanying other films. De Felitta and Garcia also supply a commentary track, talking in a relaxed manner about the long process it took to bring the project to fruition, about the location, quite a bit about working with the other cast members (Garcia’s daughter plays his daughter), and about making movies these days. During one major family dinner scene, De Felitta deliberately shook the camera a bit, and also, “We shot without any real regard for the eye lines. Supposedly, you know, you’re always supposed to be very careful with your left to right and right to left, but I don’t necessarily believe that that’s all that important any more. I think the visual literacy rate is pretty high in people watching movies. But in addition to that, it kind of gives things a slightly unsettling way.”
The one advantage to Anchor Bay’s Blu-ray is that the quality of the presentation enhances your subliminal involvement with the film, so that you enjoy it more. Yes, the picture and the 5.1 Dolby sound are a little sharper and a little more solid, but there is nothing in the film itself that makes the improvements exceptionally advantageous. The special features are repeated, and there is a second platter containing a copy of the film that can be downloaded onto handheld viewing devices.
