Our Flick of the Week is Barry Levinson`s ”Avalon,” another in his personal series about growing up in Baltimore. ”Diner” and ”Tin Men”
preceded it in production, but ”Avalon” is first chronologically and is the most deeply moving.
It`s about Levinson`s grandfather, a Jewish immigrant who came to this country in 1914, and how his family grew in numbers and grew apart
emotionally. The real triumph of this film thematically is that melancholy and bittersweet emotions dominate. This is not the standard heartwarming immigrant film we have experienced so often. To be sure there are plenty of sweet moments, but the inexorable tide in the film is toward fragmentation.
The pace of the picture is relaxed but confident as we meet the grandfather (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and his four paperhanging brothers. Two of their boys go on to hit it big in the discount appliance business, with one family (Aidan Quinn and Elizabeth Perkins in their richest roles and performances) moving to the suburbs. Classic problems ensue: name changes, meddling in-laws, financial reversals.
What causes problems in what would appear to be a very successful family? In interviews writer-director Levinson has said that money squabbles and TV are contributing factors. Some family members are more successful in business than the others; while they move to the suburbs, the poorer relations stay in the city. The influence of television is less obvious but just as insidious. Instead of exchanging family stories en masse, everyone stares at the cyclops in the corner of the living room. An unspoken issue is religious faith-none is explicitly displayed.
”Avalon” has been beautifully photographed by Allen Daviau (”E.T.”), who manages to make what are scenes of memory shimmer without being too pretty. Levinson is at his best when he tells his vignettes simply, not drawing attention to the camera.
This is a movie that redefines the concept of a family picture. Families should see it together because there will be plenty to talk about regardless of how new your crowd is to this country.
”Avalon” is playing at the Water Tower, Webster Place and outlying theaters. Rated PG. (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
FLICKS PICKS GUIDE
– (equals) New this week
– MARKED FOR DEATH (Broadway, Burnham Plaza, Chestnut Station and outlying). Steven Seagal`s latest violent escapade has the former drug agent tackling one more case, this one involving Jamaican drug dealers. Seagal looks like James Belushi on steroids and talks in a whisper but is convincing in his martial arts moves. R. (STAR)(STAR)
– QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER (McClurg Court, Webster Place and outlying). Tom Selleck looks ridiculous in a goatee (not present in ads for the film) in this story of a sharpshooter from the American Old West who comes to the aid of aborigines in Australia. Laura San Giacomo, looking like a teenager, plays his love interest in an oh-so-obvious story that typifies the kind of material that helped kill off the western movie. Only Alan Rickman (the villain in
”Die Hard”) as an evil land baron offers any entertainment value. PG-13.
(STAR)(STAR)
– REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (Water Tower). The trial of Claus von Bulow has been turned into more of a rumination on the American criminal justice system with a strong focus on celebrity defense counsel Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver). His use of his Harvard law students as helpers in a hippie commune setting is as fascinating as whether Von Bulow (a thoroughly credible Jeremy Irons)
actually did try twice to murder his wealthy wife (Glenn Close in a surprisingly heartless role). Is justice being served or simply the egos of two strong men? R. (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
– WHITE PALACE (900 N. Michigan and outlying). More than a story of sexual relations between an older woman (Susan Sarandon) and a younger man
(James Spader), this is a tale of conflict between upper-middle-class wealth and the working class. Spader is a well-to-do Jewish widower who one drunken night takes a liking to an earthy waitress. They have repeated sexual encounters, but will he show her off to his friends and family? The Jewish stereotypes-material young women, a dingbat mother-are cruel and completely unnecessary. And the film manages to avoid the more interesting problem area of what will happen to the couple once they decide to settle down and live openly together. Both principals, however, are good in their limited roles. R. (STAR)(STAR) 1/2
