‘You do what your heart says you have to…’
It’s a sorry state of affairs when Steven Spielberg, Steven goddamn Spielberg, can’t buy a hit. Ready Player One had its admirers, his reimagination of West Side Story had stellar reviews, ditto his latest effort The Fabelmans, but none of them has been box office hits. In a world where Jurassic World: Dominion made over a billion dollars, Spielberg has gone from being the most successful blockbuster director of all time to almost an arthouse filmmaker with his latest movie. That being said, who gives a shit, as long as someone keeps giving him money, he will keep creating magic…
Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryan as the younger Sammy, but primarily Gabriel LaBelle) is obsessed with the moving image from the moment he witnesses a train crash on the big screen. He gets his artistic tendencies from his piano player mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and the practical side of his personality from his engineer father Burt (Paul Dano). Elsewhere, Seth Rogen puts in an excellent performance as friend of the family Bennie whilst Judd Hirsch cameos as Sammy’s eccentric but influential uncle Boris. There is also a very special cameo at the film’s end, but I won’t ruin that for anyone here.
If not already clear from the plot description, The Fabelmans is a semi-autobiographical love letter to the movies yes, but also to Spielberg’s adolescence and childhood. Projects like this have the potential to be self-indulgent, but Spielberg is such a master storyteller that The Fabelmans never is. I fell in love with this family. With Michelle Williams dancing by car headlights on a camping trip. With Paul Dano goofing around with Seth Rogen. And with Sammy himself, always torn between his loyalty to his family and his love for cinema (and wonderfully played by LaBelle who has shades of a young Miles Teller). That’s what this film is about really. How to find a balance between creating art and creating memories. It’s a dichotomy that all artists struggle with, as evidenced by the sheer number of family films that involved one or both parents learning that they must sacrifice their career for their family.
The Fabelmans is sepia-tinged and nostalgic and all that stuff, but it’s never overly sentimental. The wide range of emotions demonstrated here are all earned, and in doing so, Spielberg has crafted his best film since Catch Me If You Can in 2002 and one of his most affecting films ever.
Pretty much every Spielberg film in the ’80s and ’90s was about his relationship with his father (if you dig deep enough), with The Fabelmans, the master director has perhaps put all that longing to bed. An instant classic.