City by the Sea does with artful subtlety what the similarly themed Road to Perdition did with artsy pretension: Both movies explore the way legacies of violence are passed down from fathers to sons. Robert DeNiro plays a New York City detective who discovers the prime suspect in his latest murder investigation is his estranged, junkie kid (James Franco). Strong acting from these two – and Frances McDormand in a supporting role – turns what could have been a plot gimmick into a powerful dramatic conflict about the meaning of fatherhood.
