City of Hope (1991) Reviews

• Dramatic mastery

  lotus491999-04-12

  I've seen several John Sayles films and have been more or less impressed with all of them. This finely wrought and under appreciated little treasure though is probably his most complex and evocative. It's a formidable task tying together the loose ends of lives Sayles starts with into a coherent drama. All this done in the milieu of a corrupt city, tangled relationships and madness. Even the humour is bleak. There's nothing here that employs maudlin sentiment or melodrama, though. Somehow the tragedy is alleviated by a pervasive and dramatically ironic atmosphere of hope. It's in the pours and veins of this movie.. there's a human quality to it that's difficult to pin down but once detected transforms it into something special.

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• Subcity.

  dbdumonteil2003-08-22

  Some people complain about the number of subplots:That's precisely what makes this movie so original and so endearing.This is a small microcosm of characters we follow during two hours without getting bored.Sometimes the director leaves two people talking for two other ones in the same sequence:this technique is an update of what William Wyler used to do notably in "detective story" (1952) and even "best years of our lives"(1946).The sequences are very short and are intertwined with skill;the cast is uniformly good,with Tony LoBianco as the stand-out.This is a very interesting movie ,focusing on such important subjects as responsibility,honesty and dignity.Really worthwhile.

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• A John Sayles tour-de-force

  Aldanoli1999-05-03

  No, not the Patrick Swayze movie about India . . . that was *City of Joy*. This film, however, is also about one of the urban nightmares of our time-namely, New Jersey. A John Sayles tour-de-force (he wrote, directed, edited, and plays the most venal character), in which five story lines involving more than thirty characters seamlessly intertwine in a horrifying portrait of corruption, deceit, and cynicism in modern America. The ensemble cast is outstanding, and the screenplay rarely hits a false note.

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• Unsettling and deeply emotional take on the average American city.

  mhasheider2002-08-01

  Unsettling and deeply emotional take on the average American city (big or small) by John Sayles ("Lone Star", "The Sunshine State"), who manages to mend an unlikely story of local politics, corruption, and mistrust among the citizens of a New Jersey town into one is remarkable. Among the many ordeals that occur here are is the fed up son (Vincent Spano) who wants to break out of the already arranged enviroment set up by his dishonest contractor father (Tony Lo Bianco) and one of the town's councilmen (Joe Morton) who looks into the case of two black kids who accuse a college professor of approaching them in a city park at night. "City of Hope" has the emotional feel of a movie made by John Cassavetes or Martin Scorsese carefully mixed together. Plus, the camera work of Robert Richardson is great in showing the viewer the bleak outlook of an urban city and its inhabitants. And it showcases Sayles' best work our of the movies that he's made.

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• Inner city interlocked characters in very good Sayles film

  EasyCompany19442007-10-29

  Like another Sayles film, Matewan, this really is one of the little known very solid films of our time. This precursor for Crash is a compelling look at the substantial impact strangers may have on each other. While the acting is at times somewhat melodramatic, the direction of the film is typical of the brilliant Sayles. The film contains some very interesting tracking shots where inter-connected characters unwittingly enter and exit each other's lives. Unfortunately, the film's title often has it mistaken for the awful "City of Joy" featuring Patrick Swayze

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