Avalon

It is heart-warming to read comments from those of you who do not even live in Baltimore and enjoyed the movie as much as we Baltimoreans did. What a stirring tribute to the city and to our immigrant grandparents.

My ancestors came from County Cork to Baltimore in the late 1800's. We too, grew up in rowhouses (retitled "townhomes" by realtors in the 1980's) nearby our cousins. Many scenes brought back wonderful memories: the kids playing in the "back alley," the marble steps of the rowhouses which my mother used to lovingly scrub, the "bee" incident, trips to the lake, Thanksgiving dinner with extended family members and tables to seat all the kids extending into the next room, etc., etc.

This could have been just another sappy movie but the actors were so immersed in their characters, I was swept away. Apparently, so were you.

Avalon is really a beautifully written story and Levinson's cast is excellent. This really is one of the better stories of the American experience. Actually I'd have to say it's the BEST story of the American experience ever brought to film. I say that knowing that it really is the urban Jewish-American experience and not one that is necessarily shared by other groups. I dont care for rigid definitions of the American experience because it can be a vastly differing one. Having said that though, I must still say that Avalon is a wonderful chronicling of an American immigrant family originaly from Eastern Europe who put down roots in the Avalon section of Baltimore. It is refreshing in that New York City is generally credited for this kind of narrative. So much so that it's easy to forget that ethnic communities sprang up in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco etc. Not just NYC. Through the narration of Sam Krichinsky we see his children and grandchildren grow up and he grow old. We are with him when his wife (Joan Plowright)passes away, When his son's business is destroyed by fire, when he argues with his oldest Brother and a great rift divides the Krichinskys forever. we hear his stories of this and that and always he returns to the 4th of July 1914 when he arrived in Baltimore for the first time. Levinson is fantastic as he films what is obviously an idealized representation seen only in Sam Krichinsky's "rose colored" memory of the event. There is so much poignance, sorrow, and love in "Avalon" and small details become deeply profound moments in the life of an elderly man struggling to remember the good times while the world moves on. The closing scene in which Sam's Grandson (now a father himself), with whom he has always had a close relationship, visits him in a nursing home. We know from Sam's state that the end cannot be far. Its a brief scene with little dialogue but it is AWESOME!!!! in the sublime way it conveys it's message. I choke up just thinking about that scene. See "Avalon"!!!

I'm 73 years old these days. I first saw Avalon about 25 years ago and I thought it was a fine movie. I watched it again yesterday and, in my eyes, it has now become a masterpiece. It is essentially about the life of one immigrant who came to America in 1914 as a young man, brought over by his brothers who came before him. He starts a family. The movie follows the family through the decades ranging from the 1940s to the 1970s. The family is in most ways ordinary. No one invents anything. These is no great artist, nor criminal. It is, essentially, a sentimental, somewhat bittersweet trip through mid-20th Century America.

I guess I have come to love Avalon because I have taken that same trip. My life's journey was about 20 years later than the one portrayed in the movie, and I was in Columbus, Ohio, not Baltimore, but many of the vignettes depicted in Avalon could have been mine. So, my 8-star rating is based largely on how I personally identify with the movie. If I were 18 and were watching it on TV on a Saturday afternoon, I'm not sure I would have made it through the whole movie. The film would not speak to me, at least not yet. Fact is, I may be in the last generation that sees Avalon in nostalgic terms rather than historic terms. I guess that's what happens with the passing of time.

I have always liked this movie and am sorry it did not do as well as other Levinson films. It's obviously a Jewish family that is depicted although there are no specifically Jewish scenes, like lighting the candles or anything like that.

As the family becomes more Americanized they move away from the family circle center. The suburbs and TV become the two most alienating forces. Armin Mueller-Stahl, Joan Plowright and Elijah Wood were all great.I particularly liked Aiden Quinn as the father although he is obviously not Jewish.

I mention it as one of the Best American Movies about Immigrants on Associated Content.

AVALON (1990) **** Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Pollak, Joan Plowright, Lou Jacobi, Elijah Wood, Leo Fuchs. Barry Levinson's personal masterpiece, loosely autobiographical, on family values. Absolutely charming and at times poignant account of the Krachinsky clan, spanning four generations of the Baltimore based Jewish immigrants, and the effects of suburbia, television and the decline of the closeness of American families at large. Wonderful ensemble of talent with a steadily paced and absorbing calmness in tone. Stahl gives a sterling endeavor as does young Wood as his wide-eyed grandson. Loving valentine for all families perfectly realized. Great production design and cinematography.