Barry Levinson

In 1999 Andrew O'Hehir maps Barry Levinson's work as a cycle about one city: Liberty Heights is the fourth and most ambitious link in a series on Jewish life in post-war Baltimore, following Diner, Tin Men and Avalon. His verdict is plain too, that the spontaneous liveliness which put Diner and Tin Men among the surprises of the eighties is largely gone and the director looks to be relighting a flame that has died. He counts Levinson and John Waters the city's two competing Virgils. On the awards side 1989 is the hinge year: the Berlinale gave Rain Man the Golden Bear while the Italian academy nominated him for that same film in its foreign director category, the one item written to a film and the other to a person. The Berlinale also gave Wag the Dog its Special Jury Prize in 1998.