southwest3210-156-400970
I saw all 4 of the so-called "Baltimore Quadrilogy" in sequence, and, while the first three were fantastic, Diner still rose to the top for me. It was the most real, most heartfelt, and most memorable. I put on LH thinking it would be "okay", and was shocked to see it just about right up there with Diner for all the same reasons. If you've seen Scorsese's "The Bronx Tale" with DeNiro, you might notice a resemblance, down to the "forbidden" teen interracial love plot. In Bronx Tale, the "mob" has a part, but with nothing terribly eventful. In both, the family and everyday storyline take precedence, as if the mob aspects were afterthoughts. I can't say that the Jewish Mob background did LH justice, as Montagna just seemed too wishy-washy to be a front-line mobster. Montagna is a great actor, but I think he should have brought a little harder edge to the mob-orientated moments. He did fine as a father, though he could have had any occupation and the movie would not have been any the less for it. I strongly feel that if the movie did not have the mob element in it, and Montagna had a conventional occupation, the movie would have been perfect, and even more realistic than it was. The burlesque scenes again were a drag on what otherwise would have been a perfect "coming of age" film.This movie comes very close to "Diner" quality, if not for the somewhat flawed "mob" subplots....well worth seeing though!
gbheron
It is the autumn of 1954 in Baltimore, and the Brown vs the Board of Education ruling is quickly bringing down racial barriers in this heretofore segregated city. "Liberty Heights" is told from the perspective of an insular Jewish family, primarily the family's two high-school age brothers. Both are on journeys of self-discovery, the older brother with hostile WASP gentiles, the younger with African-Americans. Both fall for girls from opposing racial camps. In "Liberty Heights", Levinson again lovingly recreates 1950s Baltimore. You can tell he knows the lay of the land; it's etched in his heart. Like his other three Baltimore movies "Liberty Heights" is a labor of love. Thankfully Levinson did not stop with his 'Baltimore Trilogy', this is the fourth outing. And I hope there is a fifth, sixth, seventh...
SamRag
From time to time one comes across remarkable films like Liberty Heights where simple story is told in extraordinary manner. This film is about the Jewish Kurtzman family, but we follow the father and his two sons as three separate stories. Each one of them having their own struggle and challenges to face. What struck me as the most amazing part of the story was the easiness of it, how it flowed and gently tackled serious issues in the community of that time. It portrait itself in a realistic manner, where there were no real baddies or large showdown, just people going through life. The performance of the actors was brilliant, with Joe Mantegna (the father), showing once more what a talent he is. This film won't leave anyone untouched. 8/10
cbellor
Liberty Heights shows us a world that hasn't been seen too often inmovies. No, I'm not talking about the 50's. I'm talking about JewishAmerican families suffering from prejudice in a country where they arestill not allowed in Anglo majority swimming areas - all this, only 10years after Europe's holocaust. The film's main characters are Ben and Van Kurtzman. Ben is a characterwho is appealing in that he is a young man who thinks for himself in asociety where everyone else has conformed to the same sentiments towardsrace, sex, and religion. Ben goes so far as to go out with a blackgirl, question prayer in school, and dress up as Hitler on Halloween. This last thing obviously makes his mom flip out. Ben's brother Van alsopursues a girl outside his ethnic group, however he is not taking as biga risk as his curious younger brother. The scene in which Ben is toldoff by his mom for dressing up as Hitler is a great example ofcontradiction considering that this women who is prejudiced againstblacks is shouting at her son for dressing up as a man who was equallyprejudiced against Jews. You get the sense that director Barry Levinson may be trying to tell theaudience through Ben that while growing up, everything in life is worthquestioning - just because your parents, friends, or religion sayssomething is right or wrong doesn't necessarily mean it is. Unfortunately, Levinson doesn't quite relay these ideals as well as hecould have. Instead, he insists on familiarizing us with the illegalgoings on of Ben's father in a mild strip club. This subplot comes offas awkward, uncompelling, and a little unecessary in a film centeredaround two sons' journeys down different roads. Final note: This film is worth seeing, however it's a shame it wasn't