City Of Hope

Nick (Vincent Spano), the son of a successful construction company owner, is not only bored by his sinecure on one of his father's sites but troubled by a large gambling debt. His judgment contorted by drugs, Nick walks off his "no-show" job. Arriving at the car repair shop run by his loan shark, Carl (John Sayles), Nick learns of a plan to rob the local appliance dealer, oddly enough a friend of his father, and agrees to drive the getaway van. Nick's father, Joe (Tony Lo Bianco), is also beset by problems. Not only has he had to hire a number of crime-connected characters, he is also the owner of dilapidated apartment buildings that stand in the way of plans to build a shopping center, plans being pushed by foreign money behind the mayor's and district attorney's offices. Joe laments that he has been prevented from improving the slums he owns by such pressures in the same breath as he complains that the tenants stay on despite lack of heat and services. Nick's part in the planned appliance store robbery soon provides the leverage to solve the renewal dilemma.

A cross between BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES and OUR TOWN, CITY OF HOPE is John Sayles's cluttered elegy for the ruined dreams of one segment of urban American society, intermingling themes of big money--characteristically from Japan--simmering racial tensions and generational conflict. Sayles has posited a small town sensibility where everyone knows a lot about others. High school memories provide both gossip, characterization and motivation. The would-be theft at the appliance store seems almost a boyish prank, while the fire at the slum is seen by all as a clear-cut case of arson for profit. Despite the basic pessimism of the plot, Sayles does supply traces of hopefulness: the friendly chatter between Nick and the watchman on a basketball court and the apology by one of the teens to the professor. leave a comment