The Fabelmans

It's watching Steven Spielberg grow up from a child terrified by the train crash in THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, to an adolescent film maker. He's pretty up front about the family issues and his parents' break up. I suspect he has realized that being an adult is a tough thing and is willing to forgive.

At 150 minutes, it should feel self indulgent, but it never does, thanks to terrific performances by Michelle Williams as the mother and Paul Dano as the father. No one seems to be acting, which is half the Spielberg magic. There are also great cameos by Judd Hirsch as the profane uncle who was a lion tamer, and David Lynch as John Ford.

Some of the characters seem sketchily drawn, particularly the sisters, but that serves to emphasize Miss Williams, Dano, and Gabriel LaBelle as the Steven Spielberg character. Spielberg and his frequent collaborator Tony Kushner, have drawn a fine portrait of a Jewish post-war family, when things were supposed to be so very bland... but really, people were living their own odd lives.

I have been interested in this film since the moment I heard about it. As a kid whose first memorable movie theater experience was E. T., no filmmaker has more influenced the way I experience movies than Spielberg...and nothing influenced those movies more than his parents' divorce. So I was 100% ready for a personal tale, an origin story without capes or superpowers. No CGI. No motion capture. Just a movie about the power of families and stories through the eyes of a kid. It is just that... But it is more too. There's a generosity in the way that Spielberg makes sense of his own story after the fact. Nobody is a villain or hero. They are just people choosing between happiness and responsibility while realizing slowly and painfully that it may not have to be either/or. There were scenes that worked better than others (and I am still sorting through the third act), but it was fun to see him tell a story like this, whether it was his own or not.

There is a tendency these last years for directors to create movies about their love of movies. This movie is Spielberg's attempt, and I can confirm that it's pretty well achieved. You can feel the "true story" in the ways in which this coming-of-age story avoids melodramatic teenage cliches and tropes. The protagonist is simply a good guy. There are no real antagonists except... I guess a couple of bullies...? It's a story that simply proves Spielberg's unmatched proficiency in the language of cinema: the pacing, the directing, is very refined and well-crafted, there's a lot of sentimentality that is efficiently conveyed and the visuals are always engaging in one way or another.

Spielberg is a weird director, one that basically is simply very good at doing what he does, he talks the language of movies, Hollywood movies. He's one of those producers that turns every pop song into a hit. He doesn't have a strong sense of story, he lives and breaths in the Hollywood mainstream, and the movie portrays this very well, it shows how he is inspired by action movies, or epic movies, any entertaining story. His alter ego in the film is a very normal lead character, a very Hollywood-type of character. The best moments in the story are the interaction with his family, his complex relationship with his mother (really beautifully performed). I don't find a lot else to say, really. The only nitpick I have to offer is that the main character wears these extremely distracting brown contact lenses (I suppose to make his eyes look "genetically accurate) and I don't understand how necessary that was. The movie is simply a very conventionally well told story. Also the Lynch cameo is admittedly a moving tribute both to him and to his character of John Ford. It's slow in parts but not grating, some moments are chuckle-worthy, some are moving. It's a testament to Spielberg's insane versatility and his ability to just serve the medium of Hollywood films. I'm probably going to forget this movie in a while, but I will gladly revisit it. It's a cute movie, very cozy and feel-good, a nice Christmas family watch.

The Fabelmans is both a coming-of-age story and a love letter to filmmaking; calling this movie a labor of love is an understatement. The Fabelman is Spielberg's most personal film ever as he shared how he developed his passion for filmmaking while demonstrating the power of escapism the movies brought to his life. Steven Spielberg understands that love for art is not just a hobby but also an expression of one's self and exploration of humankind. Steven Spielberg was able to articulate himself in a very raw yet profound way with his film, The Fabelmans. It is good to see him tell the story of his life while recognizing that his family is far from perfect and how a young man deals with one family crisis and overcoming it through the power of filmmaking. If you share the same love for film, like everyone here, you would certainly appreciate this movie. But, the movie is far from perfect as most of Spielberg's films.

The movie focuses on Sammy, played wonderfully by Gabriel LaBelle, which sometimes comes off as a bit pretentious as a character. But, Gabriel LaBelle was great in this movie that he showed the emotional depth of the character, and his fascination with filmmaking translates to the audience. Gabriel LaBelle must have felt extreme pressure while playing this character, considering that he's playing one of the best filmmakers of all time, but he was able to give justice to the character at no fault. However, it was Michelle Williams that stood out in this film---to say her performance is phenomenal is diminishing---she was terrific and captivating as Mitzi, a free-spirited mother with an extreme love for art. Paul Dano was great in this film, as well as Seth Rogen. Also, Judd Hirsch is for sure a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, only in the movie for less than 10 minutes, but his character is pivotal for Sammy's growth.

During the third act of the film, it kinda lost its footing, the movie became dragging, cliche, and pretentious. But, The Fabelmans is far from Spielberg's best work, like Schindler's List or ET, but the movie works as a coming-of-age story that delivers more of the director's insights. The Fabelmans is a charming and poignant anecdote about life glimpsed through the camera and how those occasions shaped one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Although the movie is predictable and does not come with surprises. The Fabelmans still works without depending on glitzy special effects, an excessive amount of violence, or shock value, but because of its great direction, performances, sincerity, and authenticity from the writing perspective, it resulted in The Fabelmans being one of this year's best films. We can see that it's personal, but it feels like the movie is made for us as well.

This semi-autobiographical film centres around Sammy Fabelman who is transfixed by the first movie he sees at age 6 and develops a passion for film making. Other themes explored with variable depth and success include the fracturing marriage of his parents, bullying and anti-semitism at high school, young love and coming of age, and selfishness in general.

The movie is way too long and felt a little boring in the first 45minutes. It's nicely shot and well directed as you would expect, but the script is patchy and while the acting is generally excellent, the performances of Paul Dano and in particular Michelle Williams as Sammy's parents felt too affected and a little contrived - at times I felt I was watching filming on the set of a TV sitcom. I wonder still if this was deliberately instructed by Spielberg, but for me it doesn't work.

Gabriel Labelle is the best as the teenage Sammy and Judd Hirsch is superb in a cameo as Uncle Boris. John Williams as always provides a perfect score and the visuals are superb.

Overall it's worth seeing for a little insight into Spielberg's childhood but there is an unsatisfactory feel to the film as a whole. I think it could have been so much better.