Avalon

Written and directed by Jewish American filmmaker Barry Levinson, Avalon stars a multigenerational family of Polish immigrants. Their Jewish heritage arrives through mention of relatives being in concentration camps, spoken Yiddish and Polish, a Star of David glimpsed on a headstone, a rabbi presiding over a funeral. Jewish characters and family elders are deeply humanized: resilient, flawed, funny, romantic, petty, etc. Women are strong matriarchs and speak their minds, but they defer to their husbands; the film mainly follows male characters. Unfortunately, Black people are treated as window dressing, visible only in crowd shots or as nightclub performers and dancers. Native Americans are reduced to mascot-like illustrations or cartoons, seen briefly on TV in two scenes.

Main character robbed; a hand smears blood on a car window as his son watches from inside. (Later viewers find out he was stabbed; it's never depicted.) Concentration camps mentioned multiple times in context of characters' refugee stories. A swarm of bees chases and surrounds kids; a boy screams until scene fades into image of him stung all over his face, the doctor saying he'll be fine. Kids gross each other out by talking about how the turkey they're eating for dinner was alive, then killed in the basement. Large explosion seen during a black-and-white movie at the theater. A streetcar goes off the rails and crashes into a main character's car. A traumatized girl wakes up screaming, tears running down her face. Boys douse model airplanes in glue and set them on fire, one time with firecrackers, which leads to peril. Dangerous-looking sparklers and fireworks explode on a street during the Fourth of July, a boy running through them. A large building catches fire and emits billowing smoke; sirens and firefighters on scene. A character collapses; their family is later seen attending their funeral.

One character falls in love with another at first sight. An engaged couple kiss chastely in front of the soon-to-be groom's father. A married couple share a lingering kiss after good news.

"Lunatic," "for god's sake," "to hell with you," "god forbid," "goddamn," and "busting our asses."

Adult men discuss, pour, drink whiskey. Beloved patriarch affectionately described as never drinking water, only whiskey and seltzer. Glasses of wine sit on the table during Thanksgiving dinner; no bottles visible. Adults smoke cigarettes and cigars in multiple scenes. A '50s-era nightclub shows adults drinking martinis. A woman tells her husband she's pregnant; in the same scene, she drinks alcohol and smokes cigarettes. No one ever appears drunk.