The Fabelmans review

THE FABELMANS: 

LATEST SPIELBERG FILM IS A MAGICAL AND INSPIRING LOVE LETTER TO BOTH FILM AND FILMMAKING! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Steven Spielberg’s life story comes to the screen in The Fabelmans

 

            An aspiring young filmmaker uses movies to help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him in The Fabelmans, the new film from Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln). The film is a semi-biographical coming-of-age story that’s loosely based on Spielberg’s childhood and early film career. 

            The film was originally conceived in 1999 with his screenwriter sister Anne under the working title I’ll Be Home, but the project was put on hold for personal reasons until Spielberg finally revisited it while he was still working on West Side Story. I don’t know how much of this film is accurate, but even if it wasn’t based on his personal life, a movie directed by Spielberg about making movies? Sign me up! 

            I’m a sucker for movies about making movies whether it’s documentaries like American Movie or Persistence of Vision, biopics such as Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, James Franco’s The Disaster Artist, or Hitchcock, sci-fi movies about aliens…that also happen to revolve around making movies like Super 8 (Which was produced by Spielberg), or even comedies simply about filmmaking like Be Kind Rewind and Tropic Thunder, I find all of these to be very entertaining and have inspired me creatively with my own ideas. The Fabelmans was a no-brainer, of course I’m going to see it, and this might be a hot take, but The Fabelmans just might be the best film I’ve seen all year, not a hint of sarcasm in that statement…but more on that later. 

            The film follows Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle-Max 2: White House Hero, The Predator, American Gigolo) who falls in love with movies and filmmaking after his parents took him to see The Greatest Show on Earth as a child. Throughout most of his childhood and adolescence, Sammy is making his own movies at home much to the delight of his supportive mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams-Blue Valentine, Shutter Island, Venom 1 and 2). 

            However, when complications arise during Sammy’s high school years such as bullies, girls, and the relationship between his mother and computer engineer father Burt (Paul Dano-Prisoners, Love & Mercy, The Batman), Sammy will learn a very important lesson about what it really means to devote yourself to your art. 

            The film also stars Seth Rogen (Superbad, 50/50, Long Shot) as Burt’s best friend Bennie Loewy, Judd Hirsch (Independence Day 1 and 2, A Beautiful Mind, Uncut Gems) as Sammy’s great uncle Boris Schildkraut, Julia Butters (13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, American Housewife) as Reggie Fabelman, Jeannie Berlin (The Heartbreak Kid, Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York, Inherent Vice) as Burt’s grandmother Haddash Fabelman, Robin Bartlett (The Powers That Be, Mad About You, Inside Llewyn Davis) as Mitzi’s grandmother Tina Schildkraut, Oakes Fegley (Pete’s Dragon (2016), The Goldfinch) as Chad Thomas, Chloe East (Liv and Maddie, Ice, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World) as Monica Sherwood, Cooper Dodson (American Horror Story: Cult) as Turkey, Gabriel Bateman (Annabelle, Lights Out, Child’s Play (2019)) as Roger, and David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive) as film director John Ford. 

            Overall, The Fabelmans is a captivating cinematic experience and one of Spielberg’s best films in recent years (Which is saying a lot). It’s a very personal look at Spielberg’s childhood and early filmmaking years told through these fictional Fabelmans characters and it’s done incredibly well. 

            I can picture a young Spielberg being mesmerized by the intense crash sequence from The Greatest Show on Earth and attempt to recreate the scene using a Lionel train set. Also, the scenes where Sammy is filming these surprisingly impressive films for a child/tween and doing all kinds of effect tricks is inspiring and fuels the imagination, you can really see the passion and work put into everything he’s doing even if it may not turn out that great in the long run. 

            The film captures the nostalgia of being transfixed by the magic of the movies at a young age (Especially when it’s your first movie in theaters which can be a life-changing event for many) and making your own movies with your friends from school. Anyone who’s ever grown up with movies and aspired to make films when they were younger can easily relate to something from this film, I know I can and it’s thanks to this movie I have a whole new appreciation for those sh*tty movies I made with my friends when I was a child. 

            However, beneath all the twinkly filmmaking magic lies a poignant and heartbreaking family drama involving marriable problems, conflicts between family members and close friends, anti-Semitism by bullies at school, and divorce. While I don’t think this film hits the emotional drama quite as hard as something like E.T., the sequences alone that depict them do such as a scene where Michelle Williams is playing the piano while Paul Dano watches, and Sammy is in the other room finding the information about his parents he didn’t want to learn about done through cross cuts and no dialogue, and another scene near the end with a swooping 360 camera motion that visually tells the audience about this mysterious director Sammy is about to meet. 

            The actors knock it out of the park with Michelle Williams being a major highlight as this supportive but emotionally unstable mother as well as Paul Dano as the overworking and equally supportive father though he doesn’t have quite as much screen-time as Williams, but he makes do with what he has. Seth Rogen is excellent in a rare non-comedic role as Burt’s friend and business partner who may or may not have feelings for Burt’s wife and he too shares some effective scenes with Gabriel LaBelle’s Sammy. 

            I haven’t seen much of Gabriel LaBelle before until this movie, but I can gladly say he’s a potential rising star with his performance as Sammy. He really brings the passion and energy of a teenager trying to pursue a career in filmmaking while also effectively selling the dramatic, family-based moments. 

            The Fabelmans is a magical and inspiring love-letter to both films and filmmaking as well as a captivating coming-of-age tale about growing up and family. It’s a film I feel every young person who aspires to make movies should see in their lives…or anyone even remotely interested in bringing stories to the screen.