Avalon Rating: Release Date: 23 September, 2003 Retail Price: $19.94 OUR Price: $17.99 You SAVE: $1.95! Cast: Elizabeth Perkins Aidan Quinn Elijah Wood Armin Mueller-Stahl Complete Cast (9 total)

Avalon Reviews

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Barry Levinson's Genius work
Every scene in Avalon seems to have a deeper meaning. A classic, heartwrenching story about immigration and how families can drift apart. How many millions of us living in America have a similar tale?

Awesome musical score by Randy Newman, too!

Michael Locker MD

Levinson's Baltimore once again

Set in Baltimore in the 40s and 50s, the movie revolves around a large extended family of Polish immigrants. Sam Krichinsky (played by Armin Mueller-Stahl) is the central character who loves to tell the story of his arrival in Baltimore on July 4, 1914. The movie shoots for nostalgia and generally hits the target right on; scenes are bathed in soft colors and blend smoothly into one another. We're shown family reunions, bickerings, good times, hard times - it's almost the universal immigrant story mythologized, so familiar as to be every American's "dream" history. Television is the media at the center of it all, chosen by director Barry Levinson as the grand symbol of the age. The movie is easy and enjoyable to watch and we get lulled right in to it (one wishes at times more risks had been taken with the script and direction). Like that favorite family story told over and over again at family reunions, the movie is reliable and comforting and safe and truthful (mostly): it's the heart of the story with all the messy rough edges carefully pruned away. On that level, the movie is a fine success.

More Customer Reviews (23 total)

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