Avalon

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Film:

Avalon

Director: Barry Levinson
Honors:
Genres:
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Intensely personal and yet universally appealing, Avalon follows immigrant Sam Krichinsky and his extended family as they seek a dream called America in a place called Avalon. From poverty through prosperity, the Krichinsky family faces their changing world with enduring humor and abiding love. Even when squabbling over a failed business or adjusting to a new land, Levinson never fails to find the comedy and immediacy of their immigrant experience. A superb cast, led by Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn and Elizabeth Perkins, perfectly captures the vibrant love and laughter of this quintessentially American family. The coming-of-age story of an entire nation, Avalon is a “tapestry of American life so rich and perfect it could hang in a museum.” (Rex Reed)
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Reviews

Amazon.com

Writer-director Barry Levinson is at his best when exploring his native Baltimore during his formative years: the 1950s and 1960s. This film, drawing upon family stories, tells a compelling, amusing tale about an extended group that came to America one by one, each earning enough to bring the next sibling. The new, American-born generation—represented by Aidan Quinn and Kevin Pollak—see a future in that mysterious machine known as the television, even as the older generation, led by Armin Mueller-Stahl, finds its traditions shattering or being put aside. Funny, tragic, and telling, it’s a terrific, multifaceted film that ultimately details the breakdown of the oral tradition in the wake of television’s burgeoning popularity. —Marshall Fine

Barnes and Noble

The final installment of director Barry Levinson’s Baltimore Trilogy (which also includes Diner and Tin Men) is a richly sentimental, unapologetically nostalgic film that celebrates the virtues of family life. Avalon begins with the July 4th arrival on American shores of Jewish immigrant Sam Krichinsky (beautifully portrayed as an older man by Armin Mueller-Stahl), who settles in Baltimore with his brothers and raises a family. The bulk of the film unfolds in the late ‘40s, concentrating on Sam’s son Jules (Aidan Quinn), daughter-in-law Ann (Elizabeth Perkins), and grandson Michael (Elijah Wood). Levinson traces various transitions within the Krichinsky family and conveys his appreciation of the anxieties that afflicted middle-class people in nascent suburbia. His affection for place and period comes through in every scene, and, in addition to assembling a strong ensemble cast (including Kevin Pollak, Lou Jacobi, and Joan Plowright), he suffuses the entire film with warm, gentle humor. The emotion in Avalon is always heartfelt, never contrived for cheap effect; this film shows Levinson at his most vulnerable and introspective, and as such rates a special place in his oeuvre. The DVD includes production notes and talent files. Ed Hulse

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