Susan Granger’s review of “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures)
Perhaps the best way to describe “The Fabelmans” is to call it filmmaker’s Steven Spielberg’s origin story. As director and co-writer – with Tony Kushner – Spielberg reveals what ignited his passion for movies and dramatizes the various obstacles he faced growing up, particularly anti-Semitism and the dissolution of his parents’ marriage.
After crafting crowd-pleasers like “E.T.,” “Indiana Jones,” “Jaws,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” 75 year-old Spielberg realized, “This is the coming-of-age story I really wanted to tell.”
Fictional five year-old Sammy Fabelman’s fascination with film began when his parents – thwarted, mischievous Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and brilliant but stolid Burt (Paul Dano) – took him to see “The Greatest Show on Earth” i(1952), an Oscar-winner in which director Cecil B. DeMille staged the most spectacular train wreck ever filmed.
After that theatrical experience, Sammy became obsessed with movie-making, shooting his own 8 mm creations as the family moved from New Jersey to Arizona to Northern California. When he was a teenager, editing footage of family outings, Sammy (Fabriel LaBelle) suddenly realized what was really going on in his mother’s relationship with family friend Bennie (Seth Rogen). It’s a pivotal poignant moment.
Then in high school, Sammy became the target of anti-Semitic bullies and acquired his first girl-friend, Monica (Chloe East), who tried to convert him to Christianity.
Spielberg told the New York Times: “In a way, the camera was a social passport for me…I was basically weaponizing my camera to curry favor with these athletic, popular kids who eventually all wanted to be in my movies.”
Kudos to immersive cinematographer Janusz Kaminsi , Rick Carter’s authentic production design, John Williams’ evocative score, and Judd Hirsch’s indelible cameo as Sammy’s estranged great-Uncle Boris, who unleashed a torrent of life-changing advice and the sacrifices Sammy would have to make in order to achieve his dream.
FYI: Spielberg’s real-life mother, Leah, died in 2017 at age 97 and his father, Arnold, died in 2020 at age 103. After their divorce, both remarried, yet remained friends. And Spielberg’s crucial meeting with irascible director John Ford (David Lynch) unfolded exactly as depicted on-screen.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Fabelmans” is a touching, tender, transfixing 10, one of the best movies of 2022.
