I can’t tell you how I heard about this movie or from whom but it is really good. Andy Garcia plays a corrections officer who has always wanted to be an actor. He lives on City Island which is a beautiful part of New York, with his wife and son. He has a standard time set aside for playing polka with his buddies which is actually a time he attends acting lessons (led by Alan Arkin). Why he doesn’t tell his wife what he is doing is somewhat of a mystery, maybe he is just embarrassed or that she will think it a stupid idea. That is just one lie of many this family has. His daughter is away at college – well they think she is away at college. He and his wife even tell each other they have stopped smoking and yet they both continue to do so when away from each other. Their teenage son has a different kind of secret involving the internet, but not as bad as what you are thinking right now, actually quite a humourous secret.
At work one day Garcia suddenly shows an interest in an inmate who he takes home to help him renovate an outside bathroom. Obviously there is way more to this man than meets the eye and you find out exactly what that is as the story progresses. During acting class one night they are grouped into pairs and each one is to tell the other a secret no one else knows. This starts a chain of events that could destroy everything he has worked for or maybe it could bring everyone back together again. Well worth your time.