Liberty Heights (1999)

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!

A coming-of-age period piece set in post-war America, seen through the eyes of a Jewish teenager? I thought it'd be merely a series of boring vignettes like BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS. Instead, LIBERTY HEIGHTS was interesting, intelligent and fairly original as these things go. The characters were compelling, the soundtrack wonderful (though the score was a little too schmaltzy), and the acting...Well, the two actors with the most screen time were, in a word, excellent. It was obvious in 1999 that Adrien Brody was bound for stardom (this was first evident in SUMMER OF SAM, released earlier the same year). A terrific, subtle actor, the man oozes understated charm, and the camera loves that beautiful beak of his. (Note to self: Next on my Brody rent list is Soderbergh's KING OF THE HILL. Hope he's actually in the movie, so I won't be disappointed like I was with NEW YORK STORIES.) But if I had to pick a lead actor among the ensemble cast of LIBERTY HEIGHTS, it would not be Brody. It'd be his onscreen brother Ben Foster (last seen in "Six Feet Under" as the most recent of Claire's boyfriends). This kid (sorry, anyone born in the 1980s is a kid to me) has got some seriously underused acting chops. When he wasn't onscreen I kept wanting the movie to get back to his story, and the wise script had only partly to do with that. Good thing he didn't take the Freddie Prinze route to his career; hopefully this means Foster will always be able to find roles in movies that matter.While the guys' performances (including Joe Mantegna and even Orlando Jones) were terrific, the women's weren't quite as. Bebe Neuwirth, as the mother was adequate (though it seemed a little odd seeing her as Brody's mom, considering she's only fourteen years older than he and they both had half-nude scenes in SUMMER OF SAM). But the love interests of the brothers, despite being superficially attractive, lacked screen presence and the ability to deliver their lines with conviction. I wasn't surprised to learn from IMDb that one is primarily a singer, the other a model. [Allow me to go off topic and note, for no reason, that several actors in LIBERTY HEIGHTS have appeared together in other movies:Adrien Brody & Bebe Neuwirth: SUMMER OF SAMDavid Krumholtz & Anthony Anderson: TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAMEKevin Sussman & Gideon Jacobs: WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMERMarty Lodge & Jan Austell: RANDOM HEARTSWhat's up with that? These aren't even counting the presumably local Baltimore actors who have been cast in both John Waters and Barry Levinson movies. Does this happen often and I just don't notice it?]And we're back. As in TIN MEN, Levinson indulges here his fetishistic love for the cars of the '50s (the final shot is of a gleaming white Cadillac in a dealership's showroom). The songs of the era - from James Brown to Frank Sinatra - are used as character development instead of just cheap nostalgia. The script is clear-eyed about what it wants to say about life back then, dealing with bigotry and the effects of a newly integrated society, and doesn't view the past through rose-colored glasses. It just tells it like it was, honestly and without judgment. One theme of the movie I responded to was how we idealize the object of our affection. It's never nice to realize your Cinderella who looks like a demure Anna Nicole Smith sans vacuousness can turn out to be a boozy nymphet with low self-esteem (like, say, Anna Nicole Smith).LIBERTY HEIGHTS does have its flaws. The editing could have been smoother (some scenes seem to end before they should), and there feels to be about ten minutes of deleted scenes that may have strengthened the characters' relationships (the only one on the DVD isn't one of them). And I didn't quite buy the details in one sequence concerning a financial transaction. But these imperfections are not major enough to ruin the movie. 7/10

Liberty heights is a great movie, full of laughter. It gives you a sense of history, as well as providing for a good, well rounded film. The acting is good, the script is well read, and the depiction of events is carried out in a unique fashion. ( Warning, almost spoiler) One of my favorite scenes is where Ben ( mind you , he's Jewish) dresses up as Hitler on Halloween! I highly recommend this movie! P.S - and to the above comment by TxMike, Im well under 50 and I understood and appreciated this film very much. Don't assume that the older you are, the more you'll understand. Im 17, for your information.9/10 (Liberty Heights)

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