Avalon (1990)

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Barry Levinson has gathered a big ensemble cast of great actors including Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Kevin Pollak, and Joan Plowright.It's a multi-generational story of an immigrant Polish Jewish family in Baltimore. It's Levinson's semi-autobiographical film. As such, it has some funny slice-of-life scenes like the whole family gathered up to see the first TV and the only thing on is the test screen. The family first finds success in selling TV. Eventually the extended family scatter to the winds.It has the grand scale and the feel of the era. It has some great bits of family stories. There are great actors, and Levinson is in charge. All the pieces are in place. This should be a masterpiece, but it's not quite there. The story just go on and on and on. There really isn't any flow that ramps up to a climax. It's just a series of interesting family vignettes coming one after the other. It goes on too long.This is essentially Levinson's home movie reshot onto the big screen. As such it is the best home movie in anybody's dusty attics. But like all those home movies, it probably means more for people who remember those times than those of us who were never there.

1st watched 5/18/2007 - 9 out of 10(Dir-Barry Levinson): Wonderful storytelling and performances in this very personal account of a family from Russia in the early 1900's and their life adventures in America. The story is told from the grandfather's perspective, played remarkably by Armin Mueller-Stahl, who arrived in Baltimore in 1914 during the 4th of July celebration and was mesmerized and humbled by the city's grand welcoming party. It is told by interweaving flashbacks as the grandfather tells the story to his grandchildren but the current storyline is kept in place. We see how family's start in-tact and then are spread apart by distance, class, jeolousy and petty bickering chronicling how probably many families were separated once arriving in the United States. We see enterprising young people trying to make it big in this new land of opportunity and their ups and downs in that struggle, portrayed by cousins played by Aidan Quinn and Kevin Pollack. We see the rough interchange between the mama's boys' new wife and the stepmother as they try to keep the family together despite the American mentality in it's early formings of keeping each unit to themselves independently. All of this intertwined with excellent performances, direction, visuals and a quiet stroll thru their lives. I admit, there are some minor story additions that seemed un-necessary but for the most part this is a well done perspective of America from those coming here from another country and enjoying it. A rare, clean family movie about a family that should be seen by all families.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS: I missed this film when it came out and eagerly taped it when it recently came on television. The trailers emphasized the nostalgic feel and I vaguely remembered it being a period piece about how modern life--especially television--splintered close family ties. What I didn't expect is the movie's journey to hyper-realism. When a film starts out like it's going to be in the same vein as, say, "A Christmas Story", I didn't expect it to end up like a documentary on the indignities of old age. Imagine every report on senility and its toll on everyone and you get an idea of the end. It isn't this movie's fault that the trailers portrayed it as one thing, and it was something else. It isn't the movie's fault that I just wasn't in the mood to see what's happening in real life in homes all over this country. If the movie does have a fault, it's that the director/writer, actors, and set designers, etc., were so good at setting the tone for a gentle trip down memory lane, it was just so jarring when realism intruded at the end. I think the same thing could have been accomplished by stopping at the "hypnotized by TV" holiday dinner--with a lot less scenes of heartbreaking decline. I know that wasn't what the filmmaker wanted to do, but it would have been a film I would have enjoyed seeing more. We should be depressed by what this story says about us; I just wasn't expecting a lesson on the topic when I taped this film. That's my fault, but so many people use the terms "feel-good" and "nostalgic" to describe this film, and I didn't feel good after watching and I consider nostalgia to be something that leaves you with a happy, positive feeling about the past. For all this film's fine acting and great set design, it did not leave me with anything but regrets--maybe that was the point.

I just saw the movie in its entirety for the first time. I've caught glimpses of it over the years, but did not get a change to watch it to the end. I was touched by it. I think a lot of people found it boring because they either, did not come from a family of recent immigrants, or have become Americanized to the point of dispising the traditions portrayed in this movie. I myself, am a first generation Amercican. Having seen this movie, I have grown to appreciate what my family has been through in this country. The last scene with Sam in the nursing home was so sad. It makes you think, what a way to end your life? Fortunately, I looked at it more positively after some thought. It made me appreciate all family members, see how grudges can destroy relationships, and value what my grandparents have dome for their family (they are probably sitting all alone now; I am going to call them).