Grade: A
The Fabelmans is a lengthy episodic odyssey that occasionally lacks a tangible through-line. However, each individual scene is satisfying in and of itself, like a collection of short plays. I didn’t always feel like they were tied together, but isn’t that how life works sometimes? Director Steven Spielberg has invited us into his mind and heart, and I was all in, and could have happily sat through more than its 2 hour and 31 minute running time.
The film is a thinly-veiled autobiographical journey. We meet Sammy Fabelman, and are with him from ages 7 through 18. The movie begins on a fateful night in 1952, when Sammy’s parents take him to the movies. His first. It’s Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth, and he is enthralled, particularly with the train crash scene. He gets a train set for Hanukkah (piecemeal – one car a night), which he uses to re-enact the crash. His mother buys him a camera so he can film it, instead of doing it over and over and ruining the trains. This begins his obsession with making movies; as he learns the ropes, he gets clever, resourceful, and innovative with his editing.
Spielberg, of course, orchestrates all this with sweeping broad strokes. Every shot is crafted with the utmost care and gravitas. We can feel his breathless urgency to give us as much of his story as possible. That first kiss. That first punch. That first time he saw his parents cry. That first time he MADE his parents cry. That first roar of approval from spectators of his home movies. I don’t know how Spielberg can still pull it off and make it look genuine in 2022, but he does. The kid is back in the candy store. The Fabelmans is rated PG-13, but is perfect for any patient thoughtful viewer of any age.
This has been a great year for female lead performances. I could already make an Oscar Best Actress nomination list, and it would include Michelle Williams as the mother, Mitzi Fableman. It’s the kind of role awards organizations eat up, but Williams is able to keep it grounded, balanced, and sincere without veering off into melodrama. The father, Burt, is played by a memorable Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine), and it’s easy to see the love and respect Spielberg must have had for his dad. Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch are welcome fun as uncles – one biological, one honorary. The film ends with Sammy meeting his all-time favorite director. John Ford is played in a delicious cameo by another of the greatest and most enduring living directors. It’s a sweet tip of the hat.
The Fabelmans will give everyone something to love. It’s a touching, absorbing coming of age tale. It’s about early life, death, first love, bullying, persecution, parental divorce, mental health, and the neverending drive one has in a dream. It’s a love letter and testament to the power of movies, and at the forefront of it is our hero Sammy, the little wide-eyed boy. Maybe one day he’ll make the kind of movie that will give a little wide-eyed boy – grown to middle age – the urge to burn the late night oil and write a review of it immediately, because he simply must.
Grade: A
Film Reviews by Mark 
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