disappointment media
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • The Snake Hole
  • About

AVENUE OF THE GIANTS -- A Two-Hander With Impeccable Storytelling and Direction

10/6/2023

1 Comment

 
Review by Dan Skip Allen
Picture
Sometimes movies can move you in ways you never thought possible. I have just seen a film that wasn't on my radar, but has profoundly affected me. I've seen many movies about WWII and the Jewish side of the war — where they were persecuted and put into concentration camps, such as Auschwitz or Berkanow. Avenue of the Giants is one that tells its story in a unique way I didn't expect.

Herbert Heller (Stephen Lang, Avatar, Don't Breathe) is a man who has overcome a great ordeal during his childhood as a Jewish citizen living with his parents in Czechoslovakia.  When the Germans came to their city, they herded all of them into trains and took them to a number of different concentration camps, including Auschwitz in Poland. This film uses a two-hander to tell his harrowing story of survival at the hands of the Nazis

While telling his own story to a teen photographer, Abbey (Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade, My Best Friend's Exorcism) at a recovery center, he insists she share her own traumatic story, which is why she was in the center in the first place. What comes next is a story I never thought would happen to anyone, let alone a teen girl. Fisher and Lang trade off telling their stories for the entire length of the film.

With Lang’s portion of the movie, there is a flashback aspect of the two stories. With this is a muted look and various clothes and hairstyles that fit the time period. Once his story gets to the concentration camps, the look of the people gets considerably more gaunt and withered. They have no hair, and many people have cuts and bronzes all over their faces and bodies. Taylor didn't spare anything regarding the feel of the film. It was quite brutal to watch at times.

Fisher’s storyline is set in the present time, but there is also a slight flashback aspect to her story. Why she's in the recovery center focuses mainly on her friend and herself when they go out in the woods among the redwood trees and get drunk. There is a lot more to this story than meets the eye, though. Teens have a hard time growing up as it is, and Fisher's character has more problems than most kids her age. Issues with her parents are just the tip of the iceberg for her. Understandably, she has a hard time telling her story to this man.

The two storylines were so different, but in a strange way, these two people from different walks of life and worlds entirely needed one another to get their secrets out in the open. The writer/director Finn Taylor chose a great way to tell these individuals' stories. It made for a better film that way.

Avenue of the Giants refers to the national park that the characters in the film visited on occasion. It's the woods where all the redwood trees live, and some key elements of Fisher's character's story take place. I can see multiple purposes for the title regarding Lang's character and his survival. Rarely does a film title mean so much in regards to the overall story or stories it's telling.

Avenue of the Giants was a moving story of survival, while also being a story of domestic trauma. The two distinct storylines were very different in their approaches from the writer/director, but the two characters needed one another to overcome the secrets they were holding onto. It's a very good film with difficult themes, and I hope as many people as possible will have a chance to see this film. It was a pleasant surprise to this film aficionado.

Avenue of the Giants premiered at the 2023 Hamptons International Film Festival.


​Rating: 4/5
1 Comment
Konnie Semonski
10/9/2023 08:05:33 am

Thanks Skip. This looks interesting.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019

    Authors

    All
    Adam Donato
    Alan French
    Allison Brown
    Borja Izuzquiz
    Camden Ferrell
    Cole Groth
    Daniel Lima
    Dan Skip Allen
    Erin M. Brady
    Jonathan Berk
    Joseph Fayed
    Josh Batchelder
    Paris Jade
    Rafael Motamayor
    Sarah Williams
    Sean Boelman
    Tatiana Miranda

disappointment media

Dedicated to unique and diverse perspectives on cinema!
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • The Snake Hole
  • About