One of the most memorable scenes in the movie City Island happens when Andy Garcia, playing an earnest and aspiring blue collar actor, performs his first audition for a movie. He mangles it. The audition is an abysmal failure. But somebody sees something, and for reasons that should only be revealed by seeing the movie, he is offered a second chance. As the film unfolds, we see Garcia 'acting' as true amateur. In a tour de force performance of an actor acting as someone who has never acted before, we see him figuring it out as he goes along - trying, learning, stumbling, recovering, finding his footing and, ultimately, his own rhythm, with consequences that must be seen on the big screen to be appreciated.
For director Raymond De Felitta’s own story behind the story, there’s more here.
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