A melancholy memory film, set right after WWII in Baltimore, Avalon is the story of director Barry Levinson’s closely-knit family and how it had disintegrated over the years.
B- (**1/2* out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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The handsome, conscientiously made film traces the fortunes and misfortunes of three generations of the Krichinsky family, an extended family of Jewish immigrants.
“If I knew things would no longer be, I would have tried to have remember better,” a line spoken by Levinson’s grandfather (played by Armin Mueller- Stahl) in “Avalon,” serves as motto for the writer-director, capturing a theme that runs through most of his films: An elegiac but unsentimental exploration of the past. Most of Levinson’s films are set in America of yesteryear, distant or more recent.
Immmigrating to the US in 1914, Sam Krichinsky (Mueller-Stahl) joins his three brothers, Gabriel (Lou Jacobi), Hymie (Leo Fuchs), and Nathan (Israel Rubinek). The brothers are wallpapers hangers during the week and musicians during the weekend.
Sam meets and marries Va (Joan Plowright), and they bear a son, Jules (Aidan Quinn), who doesn’t want to be a manual laborer like his father or uncles. Instead, he becomes a salesman, and is often accompanied by his son Michael (Elijah Wood).
Michael watches as his father is stabbed by a mugger, and while recovering the oold man is given a special present that changes his lifestyle, a TV set.
Levinson is concerned with the breakup of the family structure in America, its drifting and coming apart, with primary relationships–the extended family, personal bonds–meaning less and less, and failing to monitor our conduct in any significant way.
Levinson’s uses the term Avalon in a deliberately vague way–it could suggest a neighborhood, a street, a building, it’s a concept that alludes to a historical time and state of mind when things were better. “Avalon” offers a gentle portrait of an immigrant family’s early life, one that considerably softer than Levinson’s youngsters in Diner, a better picture, would ever tolerate. The acting, particularly by Mueller-Stahl, Joan Plowright as his wife, and Aidan Quinn as their son, is good.
Like Kazan’s “America, America,” “Avalon” is a personal movie that Levinson felt that he had to make.
Baltimore Trilogy
This immigrant saga could be considered the third and weakest panel in Levinson’s “Baltimore Trilogy,” which began with “Diner” (the first and best) in 1982 and continued with “Tin Men” (the second and mediocre) n 1987.
For example, there is an image of a diner under construction. A Hudson automobile purchased in Avalon was used in Diner. The house that the Krichinsky family leaves when they move to the suburbs was the residence in Tin Men.
Now that it’s out of his system, perhaps Levison can make better pictures.
End Note:
Made on a budget of $20 million, Avalon received mixed reviews, but was a big commercial failure at the box-office.
One year later, Levinson made one of his best films, Bugsy, an Oscar-nominated gangster biopic starring Warren Beatty in top form.
Oscar Nominations: 4
Screenplay (Original): Barry Levinson
Cinematography: Allen Daviau
Original Score: Randy Newman
Costume Design: Gloria Gresham
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
“Avalon” lost in each of its four categories: Original Screenplay Oscar went to Bruce Joel Rubin for “Ghost”; Dean Semler won Cinematography for “Dances With Wolves,” a movie that also honored composer John Barry for his Original Score. The French Franca Squarciapino won the Costume Design Oscar for “Cyrano de Bergerac,” with Gerard Depardieu in the lead.
Credits:
Directed, written by Barry Levinson
Produced by Mark Johnson, Levinson
Cinematography Allen Daviau
Edited by Stu Linder
Music by Randy Newman
Production company: Baltimore Pictures
Distributed by Tri-Star Pictures
Release date: October 5, 1990 (US)
Running time: 126 minutes
Budget $20 million
Box office $15.7 million
