城市岛屿

每个繁华的大城市背后，都有一个小岛来平衡它。

它是安静的，沉默的；它是害羞的；它是无名的。有一个波浪摇摆起伏的地方，小屋对着大海，白帆点点。

是个像家一样的地方，是永远可以敞开怀抱接纳你的地方。

每个人的心中，也有这么一个小岛。

在这里，一切矛盾都可以迎刃而解，一切包袱都可以放下不提。

City Island，是个离纽约不远的小离岛。岛上有个狱警，叫做Vens。这个家庭有着一切家庭有的矛盾：欺骗、夫妻交流、抽烟、色情、脱衣舞……矛盾到你无法想象他们还能称为一家人。

这一切，在Vens发现监狱里有个年轻犯人是他20多年前的私生子之后发生了变化。

他把这个英俊的年轻人带回了家，打破了本来就摇摇欲坠的平衡。

所有的矛盾都终于爆发：不满的妻子、叛逆期的小儿子、想追求梦想的丈夫、被学校开除的女儿……

每个人的秘密都被曝光了出来，所有的冲突和误会终于达到顶点。“小岛”就是这个秘密的中心，城市的小岛——city island，每个人心中的小岛——家庭，终于让故事有了一个圆满的结局。

编剧好功力，多线索叙事最珍贵的就是不乱不蔓，巧合真实，故事说圆。更难得的是在这样一个家庭矛盾小故事上，还加上了反讽与搞笑并存的幽默色彩，演员的卖力表演更是把故事表达得充分深刻。小儿子憋着坏笑的一脸表情，每次都让我忍俊不禁。

除了当妈演员的太年轻之外，俩儿子一个女儿都是俊男美女，眉目如画，笔笔中锋，显然是遗传了父亲的好基因。

看电影其实很主观，大家各取所需，心里想的是什么，就能从中读出什么。

一、墨菲定律：你看到的未必真实

任何事物，都没有你看到的那么简单，反之，许多事物看似复杂，但若不是冷眼的旁观者，那就一定会有误解和质疑。争吵者会觉得对方无理取闹，但是旁观者却能理智清晰地理出前因后果的逻辑。片头文森将失散多年的儿子从监狱带回，餐桌上家人间的吵闹成为了影片的第一个高潮，从兄妹之间的争吵到父母，再回到兄妹，吵闹间每个人的每句台词既能概括出各自的性格，又彼此相连，串成一种浅显易懂的逻辑，由此可见导演对台词的把控能力。导演是在告诉我们，其实争吵的对方并非不可理喻，只是我们都太执着于自己的想法，忽略了对方的感受。

二、谎言可怕：家庭谎言的教科书

你还可以把这部片子理解成家庭谎言形成的教科书，为了掩饰自卑的谎言，为了隐藏秘密的谎言，为了维护他人的谎言，为了爱而生的谎言……谎言太容易生成，但是对于家庭来说，谎言的产生远远要比家庭之外的那些来得纯洁，因为彼此都因有爱，于是繁衍出的也是良性因子，只需放下自我，便能有好的结果。影片的结尾，文森放下了对自我的否定，妻子放下了表面的强悍，女儿放下了假装的优秀，在眼泪和爱的催化下，原本因为伪装脆弱面而建立起的谎言体系终于崩塌，一堆人在舒缓的钢琴声中相拥在一起。

总的来说，片子属于带有一点黑色幽默的喜剧，导演对台词和节奏的把握相当有范儿，几条线索的发展与交织有些科恩兄弟的风格，整部片子可圈可点，还是非常适合大家在炎热的夏季，一边吃西瓜一边观看的。

City Island这词听起来很有点文艺调调，其实是纽约市的郊区，中下层老百姓聚居的岛屿。开始时，我就因为片名以为它是部文艺气息浓厚的独立电影，后来才发现影片其实是家庭喜剧。主角文斯的家庭结构和《阳光小美女》中的怪胎家族有一拼：老婆感到生活空虚，厌烦家务；女儿因为学校取消了奖学金偷偷当起了脱衣舞娘；小儿子疯狂迷恋胖妞；文斯某天忽然发现监狱里一个帅小伙竟然是自己当年抛弃的儿子，而他自己身为狱警却梦想着成为演员……影片沿着文斯偷偷学表演和大儿子与文斯家人的种种误会两条线索展开：所谓热爱表演，其实正是文斯在现实生活中难以真实的一种象征。演员安迪•加西亚低调闷骚，偶露神经质的演绎让角色活灵活现，看起来非常过瘾。另一条家庭线索无非还是产生误解、矛盾，各种冲突大爆发，然后亲情闪现，一家人最终由打打闹闹回归欢欢笑笑那一套。情节有趣归有趣，路数还是太老套了点。抛开一些剧情上的牵强不说（文斯的罪犯儿子也太正直单纯了点），《城市岛屿》够好看，够温馨，够励志，当道电影甜点吃吃还真不错。

纽约附近城岛的监狱看守文斯（安迪·加西亚 Andy Garcia 饰）瞒着老婆乔伊斯（朱丽安娜· 玛格丽丝 Julianna Margulies 饰）到城里上表演课，梦想成为一名演员。乔伊斯瞒着文斯抽烟，女儿和儿子也都有自己的大小秘密，一家人各自为政。有一天文斯发现新转来的犯人汤尼（史蒂文·斯崔特 Steven Strait 饰）竟是自己遗弃二十多年的儿子。文斯把汤尼带回了家，向所有人隐瞒了事实，希望能利用假释好好照顾这个儿子，让他重返正途。与此同时，在表演课同学莫莉（艾米莉·莫迪默 Emily Mortimer 饰）的鼓励下，文斯参加了一次重要的电影角色面试，没想到这却引起了乔伊斯的误会，造成了家庭危机大爆发……

Lucky day: I picked up a movie which has been lying in my computer hard drive for almost two years—the City Island, a story which is about the key words that I came up with: lie, secret, truth and finally, relief.

Like Chinese, some words are really paradoxically synonymous with each other. Everyone would LIE to keep their SECRETS which are most often TRUTHS; when they are told, it is a big RELIEF.

Vince: a correctional officer i.e. a prison guard by our knowledge, who has most deep and personal secrets:
1. He pretended to quit smoking, already.
2. He found his out-law son (Tony) in prison and brought him home for his release.
3. His biggest secret is that he had been dreaming to be an actor so he took an acting class for a long time while had been telling lies to his wife he had been playing poker games—he thought his wife would think his secret dream is stupid, absurd…a huge shame.

Joyce: his wife. She also had secrets. She kept smoking (probably pot), too. She pretended to believe her husband had been heading for poker games while she did believe he had an affair.

Shelley: his daughter. A future college graduate in her parents’ eyes while she was a stripper to earn his tuition for next semester—she lost the scholarship because she had been caught for pot-smoking.

Tony: the unexpected result from a psyche hooker mother and young Vince, had an urge on Joyce and found Shelley was a stripper but he neither did the thing with Joyce nor got a hand on Shelley—he even tried pull Shelley out of from the strip club while she was in thin dress.

…

When all these things add up, the full picture can make up to fulfill the so-called movie category: comedy.

Yet, it is not that hilarious, actually. Real wise comes from laughter, maybe. It brings me two “in” sayings—something like that.
1.Don’t judge so quickly.
2.Not everything is as it seems. —my most remembered lines from Prison Break. While the Chinese version might be a little real hilarious: 事情不是你想的那样。

Sadly, everyone, almost, has to tell lies in real life because we all have secrets: something we have to hide, we want it to pass, we do not want to hurt someone else, we do not want to share to expose our weakness… we do not want to look like a loser. At least, I do.

However, things might be a lot easier by simply doing the simple thing: tell him/her:
I have an illegitimate son.
I still smoke.
I want to be an actor.
I dance in a strip class to make money.
…
Whether these “covert truths” are sweet or not, telling them gives you a big relief.

Don’t hide things too deep if they make our life already a mess.