|
Liberty
Heights (1999)
Maybe
I was expecting "Avalon." Maybe I was expecting too
much. Barry Levinson's most recent trip to the past
in Baltimore doesn't quite hit home the way it should.
Perhaps it has too much going on. Perhaps it just doesn't
know when to play it's dramatic cards. Or how to play
them properly. So, what could be another outstanding
look at America of the past, through the eyes of Baltimore,
becomes a sort of water- down, befuddled version of
this ideal.
The
biggest miscalculation, in my opinion, is making the
main character's part so small and making his father
a "gangster." The story revolving around Ben, played
wonderfully by Ben Foster, which has him dealing with
integration of "negroes" into his school and dating
a black girl is enough plot for one film. The chemistry
between Foster and Rebekah Johnson is wonderful and
their scenes together sparkle with truth and the charge
of that new found love. Their discovery of rock'n'roll,
sex and love within the context of their story is the
brightest part of the film.
But
the film drags itself down with so many plots about
so much nonsense. Foster, who plays a character named
Ben Kurtzman, has an older brother who is trying to
date a gentile girl and a father involved in running
a numbers racket. These plot lines are boring at best,
tired and worn at the very worst. We could care less.
When Levinson brings two of these storylines together,
with a black winner in the numbers game taking Ben and
Sylvia (Johnson) hostage by gun point, the film loses
all grasp on reality and becomes a forced and anticlimactic
mess.
That's
indicative of the problems with Ben's father, played
by Joe Mantegna. Trapped into a plot about Burlesque
and the numbers racquet, Mantegna has nothing worthwhile
to do, really. It just doesn't gel. It's kinda hard
to have much sympathy for him. And, let's face it, in
a Levinson film about Americana, we want to like the
characters.
Another
problem with the film is a sequence which should radiate
with joyousness. When Ben and Sylvia, along with two
friends, see James Brown live, the film should catapult
into the frantic thrill of the newness of rock'n'roll
music. Instead, it just sort of lays there. The guy
playing Brown, Carlton J. Smith, is particularly lame.
It just doesn't evoke what it should evoke.
Perhaps
I expected too much. "Avalon" is one of my favorite
films and I have seen and liked an awful lot of Levinson's
films. Yes, I enjoyed this one as well. It's just not
a masterpiece. It's not an instant classic. Still, when
a white teenage boy kisses a black teenage girl and
it causes so much strife or when three Jewish boys decide
to go to a restricted pool, it reminds us of the ridiculous
and archaic past we have come from. The film points
out the absurdity of the prejudices of the past. And
that cannot help but to remind us of the absurdity of
the prejudices we have in the now. I can't believe there
was a day when it was such a big deal for a white boy
to kiss a black girl. "Liberty Heights" makes prejudice
seem absurd without ever being heavy-handed. That's
a pretty awesome gift from a film that doesn't quite
work.
Notes:
Also
with Bebe Neuwirth (TV's Lilith on "Fraiser"/ "Cheers"),Adrian
Brody, Orlando Jones, David Krumholtz, Richard Kline(of
TV's "Three's Company"), Evan Neumann (looking the total
opposite of his character in "julien donkey boy"), and
Brenda Russell (who also does some music).
In
addition to Russell's songs, some Sinatra and Tom Waits
songs are used. The Waits tunes seem particularly incongruous
within the film's timeframe and opposed to the other
music used. Score by Andrea Morricone.
Vincent
Paranio, who has worked with Baltimore resident JohnWaters
on several films and on Levinson's TV series"Homicide,"
is the Production Designer here.
Considered
part of Levinson's "Baltimore" series which also includes
"Diner," "Tin Men," and "Avalon."
Report
Card
Script:
C+
Acting: A-
Cinematography\Lighting: B+
Special Effects\Make Up: B-
Music: D-
Final
Grade: C
|
