Avalon

[hatted]

Just saw "Avalon" -- the film is so-so, but the hats are fantastic, really nice felts & straws.

 

[Doctor Strange]

So-so?!? It's my favorite Barry Levinson film!

"You cut the turkey?!?"

 

[hatted]

No offense doc, I just thought the plot (though based on a true story) was a bit obvious -- though considering the film's age, maybe everything that's come after has been homage to it.

Bottom line: great hats!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Well, it's not all that original, but it's clearly very deeply felt. I definitely prefer it to Levinson's other Baltimore films (Diner, Tin Men, Liberty Heights).

It's a beautiful film - well played by a lovely cast (Elizabeth Perkins is perfect for that then-popular Elizabeth Taylor-inspired look!), and with great period detail. And it does a very good job of capturing the children-of-immigrants experience in its early 50s timeframe.

Of course, maybe I just relate to it personally... My grandparents were immigrant Jews, my parents were Depression kids who strove hard for success and assimilation, and I was born in the mid-50s, making me only a little younger than the kids in the film. Although we were in NYC, not Baltimore, it was the same we-lived-out-the-burbs-and-visited-crazy-grandparents-in-the-city thing. Anyway, I respond powerfully to the accuracy of Levinson's depiction of that time/situation.

 

[hatted]

My great-grandfather arrived in Baltimore around the same time as the Sam Krichinsky character, and had the same strong sense of family (though with strong religious family values -- something you don't see in the film). I guess the film seems a bit diluted to me (or perhaps I just have trouble imagining Aidan Quinn & Elizabeth Perkins as Jews, not to speak of Armin Mueller-Stahl).

 

[Doctor Strange]

A lot has been written since the film came out about how it carefully sidesteps dealing with the Jewish identity of its characters. And true enough, most of the cast don't read as Jews.

The commonly accepted feeling is that Levinson wanted to keep it about the general Americanization experience, so that other immigrants and their children would relate easily, and thus he kept the Jewish aspect very subtle. But it's always seemed weird to me that the whole extended family is gathering for Thanksgiving rather than a Jewish holiday. (My older relatives certainly never took Thanksgiving very seriously, considering it a goyisher holiday that wasn't in the same ballpark as their own traditions.)

But even with this odd non-Jewish gambit, I think the film still has a lot truth to it.

 

[hatted]

Well that explain the "diluted" sense I get from the film. The hats are first rate, though.