In a year ripe with semi-autobiographical coming of age films by auteur filmmakers and Movies About The Movies, The Fabelmans rises above the pack in both regards. In a way, it’s the film that Steven Spielberg‘s entire legendary career has led to; finally, Spielberg is telling a story that only he’s fit to tell — his own. Spielberg’s childhood growing up in a tumultuous family dynamic is well documented, and nearly all of it plays out on screen here. Gabriel LaBelle plays the Spielberg-surrogate, Sammy Fabelman, while Michelle Williams and Paul Dano take on the roles of his parents, Mitzi and Burt. At a young age, they take Sammy to see The Last Picture Show, and what he experiences at the cinema that night ignites a passion for filmmaking that, as we know from real life, never goes away. As Sammy comes of age in New Jersey, Phoenix, and finally California, his camera and the things that he films with it serve as the backdrop for the story that plays out: first girlfriends, high school bullies, and the eventual fracturing of his family. Spielberg and his frequent co-writer Tony Kushner weave a multi-faceted, complicated, and deeply personal story with a common thread: the power of film, and the way it can shape the world around us.
Photo: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
