Avalon (1990)

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.

Fmovies: It was like watching 30 Woody Allens frantically talking at the same time. At some moments a bit overwhelming but, all in all a good movie, also reminds me on Woody Allen's "Radio days". America, when the american dream was still a thing people believed in.

Levinson does a spectacular job in showing us the life of a man and his family after coming to America and the different ways his offspring grows up. This film also shows how values have changed from the time that Sam was a young man to when his son Jules was in the workforce (the father, Sam was a wallpaper hanger eking out a meager existence and his son, Jules was a well to do salesperson with a country club membership). The father (Sam) could not understand why his son wanted to golf or why golfing was necessary at one point in the movie. It also dealt with the issue of the family eventually moving to the suburbs and how Jules' mother commented that she could not any longer take the streetcar when they lived in the suburbs. This film also shows us how television has changed the face of America. For example, Thanksgiving in an earlier part of the movie was spent at a dinner table, before the television was invented, and after the family has television, Thanksgiving dinner was spent in front of the TV.

Not bad performance acting wise by the cast the cinematography is also spectacular especially when Sam arrives in America on July 4th, 1916.

Barry you have done a great job of reminding us that what makes this a great country is fact that we should never forget our families, our traditions or where we come from.

Avalon fmovies. This film is a powerful depiction of the loss of innocence experienced by so many immigrants who came to this country, believing it was a veritable promised land. Slowly and subtly, Levinson shows how their once close families are pulled apart by the demands of the culture. From the flight of the middle class to the suburbs and the loss of traditional business values, the transformations our society underwent in the post-war period are captured here with masterful storytelling. Watch how television gradually becomes the center of the home, rather than the family table. The turkey scene, as funny as it is, is profound. The extended family is falling apart, as the geographical distance afforded by the automobile grows.

The acting is tremendous. The performances of Quinn, Perkins, Muehler-Stahl and Plowright are worth the purchase alone. But don't miss young Elijah Wood in his first major film role.

This movie is one to treasure and revisit year after year--how about at Thanksgiving... :)

This film has much to recommend it-set design, cinematography and so on- but what makes it truly shine is a marvelous script and an ensemble cast that almost uniformly turn in excellent work. The characters live and breathe and fair jump off the screen at the audience. You come to care about them, even the ones you don't like. It's an entrancing, riveting journey through the 20th century as it was lived by one family. Don't miss this one. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll even be nice to that cousin you can't stand or your daughter's current boyfriend,who you swear is from Pluto! Most exceedingly highly recommended!!!

If you want a film that celebrates a way of life that's almost gone, that's well-acted in every department, and that gives you a major case of the warm fuzzies in a way the movies seem to have forgotten how to, Barry Levinson's "Avalon" is definitely it.

First, let's examine the cast: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Elijah Wood (some ten years pre-"LOTR"), Joan Plowright and Lou Jacobi ("Time to make the donuts!") all give fine, understated performances. Mueller-Stahl, in particular, is the sort of gentle, old-world grandfather anyone might have wished for.

But, as I said earlier, what this film is mainly about is a loving salute to a way of life that's almost gone. As a second generation American growing up in New York, what strikes me about "Avalon" is how real it all is, especially if you grew up in this era, as I did. Young Michael Kaye might have been myself in many ways. And a recent family reunion brought this feeling all back again.

A Wonderful, warm movie. See it!