Film Review: Armageddon Time is a meandering tale with well-written characters

Armageddon Time stars Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong.

★★★★☆

Opening in New York in 1980, Armageddon Time (15A) centres on 10-year-old Paul Graff (Banks Repeta), an aspiring artist who befriends Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb) on the first day of term.

The fact that Paul is Jewish and Johnny is black doesn’t matter to either of them, but it registers more significantly with Paul’s family: the descendants of immigrants from Europe who fled various waves of anti-Semitic hatred, Paul’s parents, Esther (Anne Hathaway) and Irving (Jeremy Strong) need their son to straighten up and fly right — in other words, forget about hanging out at Sugar Hill Gang concerts and knuckle down to work.

The multi-faceted characters, especially those of Paul’s parents, are particularly well-written

With this semi-autobiographical account of his formative years, writer-director James Gray explores the casual and overt racism of 1980s Queens, blending Paul’s early creative experiences — seeing his first Kandinsky at the Guggenheim, battling against the restrictions imposed by his art teachers — with a gradual awakening to his Jewish heritage as his grandfather Aaron (Anthony Hopkins) finally deems Paul old enough to hear about the pogroms that precipitated his family’s flight to America.

A meandering tale, but the multi-faceted characters, especially those of Paul’s parents, are particularly well-written here.

(cinema release)