Avalon

Directed by Barry Levinson, Avalon follows several generations of Polish immigrants, including Armin Mueller-Stahl’s Sam, Aidan Quinn’s Jules, Kevin Pollak’s Izzy, and Elijah Wood’s Michael, as they attempt to carve out a place for themselves in Baltimore. Filmmaker Levinson, working from his own screenplay, delivers a slow-moving drama that admittedly takes its time in capturing the viewer’s total interest and attention, as the movie is, at the outset, saddled with an exceedingly languid pace that prevents Levinson from cultivating the engrossing atmosphere he’s clearly intended – and yet there’s little doubt that Avalon benefits substantially from its irresistibly authentic execution and raft of vivid, engaging protagonists. (In terms of the latter, Levinson has undoubtedly elicited career-best work from a uniformly, thoroughly top-notch cast.) It’s apparent, then, that Avalon improves steadily and grows more absorbing as it progresses, as Levinson delivers a midsection and second half brimming with completely enthralling encounters and sequences – with, for example, the segment detailing the fate of Jules and Izzy’s warehouse-sized store certainly far more gripping and spellbinding than one might’ve anticipated. By the time the heartbreaking, deeply affecting final stretch rolls around, Avalon has unquestionably cemented its place as far-from-flawless yet entirely satisfying labor of love from Levinson.

**** out of ****