THE FABELMANS : Tuesday 10th January 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'THE FABELMANS' earlier this week. This American coming-of-age drama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Steven Spielberg, who needs no introduction. The film saw its World Premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September last year, where it won the People's Choice Award, and its wide US release in late November. The film received widespread critical acclaim for the performances of the cast, Spielberg's Direction, the screenplay, cinematography, and John Williams' musical score, and was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. However, it has grossed just US$17M from a production budget of US$40M. It has so far collected twenty award wins and another 183 nominations (many of which are still pending a decision) from around the awards and festivals circuit. This is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Steven Spielberg's adolescence and first years as as aspiring filmmaker, and is dedicated to the memories of Spielberg's real-life parents Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, who died in 2017 and 2020, respectively.

The film opens up on the evening of 10th January 1952, and a young Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord) is going out with his parents Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano) to the movie theatre to see Cecil B. DeMille's 'The Greatest Show on Earth'. It is young Sammy's first experience of seeing a movie on a big screen and he is very apprehensive and a little anxious about the pending experience. His parents reassure him however, and we next see him staring wide eyed up at the screen, sitting almost motionless with his mouth agape. He is transfixed by the images presented in front of him, and in particular the scene involving a spectacular train crash. Asked by his parents what he would like for a gift to celebrate Hanukkah, he at first cannot think, and then the next day or so, pipes up with a train set. Late one night, while his parents are sleeping, Sammy crashes the train set trying to replicate the scene from the film. While his father is somewhat angered by Sammy's disregard for looking after his toys, Mitzi's understands her son's intentions. 

Mitzi allows Sammy to borrow Burt's 8mm camera to shoot the train crash scene again, just once, so that he can watch it over and over again, but not to tell his father. Sammy, with his new found love of the 8mm camera, soon begins making short films often involving his sisters Reggie (Birdie Borria, and played by Julia Butters as a teenager), Natalie (Alina Brace, and played by Keeley Karsten as a teenager) and Lisa (Sophia Kopera) in scenes set around the domestic household. In early 1957, Burt is offered a new job, and so he and the family, along with his best friend and business partner Bennie Loewy (Seth Rogen), move to Phoenix, Arizona.

Fast forward five years, and a now teenage Sammy (Gabriel LaBelle) continues with his passion for film making, shooting a short Western film with his friends from his Boy Scout troop, which ultimately garners him a badge for photography. Later, the Fabelmans, and Bennie, take a camping trip with Sammy capturing footage of their vacation. Shortly thereafter, Mitzi's mother dies with the whole family by her bedside, leaving Mitzi especially distraught. Providing him with enough film editing equipment, Burt recommends that Sammy should turn the camping trip footage into a film in an effort to cheer Mitzi up. Sammy objects over the scheduling of his next film which is planned for two days time with forty of his friends taking part, but Burt, who sees Sammy's passion for film as nothing more than a hobby, argues that the home movie is more important, and that he can shoot his war film the following weekend.

The next day, the Fabelmans receive a surprise visit from Mitzi's uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch), a former circus lion tamer and film worker. That night, he speaks with Sammy about compromising his family with his art, telling him that both aspects will continue to be at odds with each other. After Boris leaves, Sammy begins editing the camping trip film, during which he observes footage of Mitzi and Bennie sharing feelings for one another. This needless to say upsets him. After weeks of harsh treatment toward her and Bennie, Sammy and Mitzi have a heated argument, during which she slaps him across the back in a fit of rage, leaving a big red hand print. Distraught, Sammy shows Mitzi the footage on a separate reel of film. He promises to keep it a secret between them. 

In early 1964 Burt receives a promotion from work, requiring his family to move with him to northern California for a job with IBM. In order to keep their marriage intact, Bennie stays in Phoenix, but not before gifting Sammy a new film camera, which he promises never to use. Soon after arriving in his new neighbourhood and school, Sammy becomes targeted by students Logan (Sam Rechner) and Chad (Oakes Fegley), who say they hate Jews, blame him for the death of Jesus Christ and call him Bagelman. Sammy also begins dating the overtly-Christian Monica (Chloe East). While having dinner with the Fabelmans, Monica suggests that Sammy should film their upcoming Ditch Day at the beach. An argument erupts around the dinner table between Mitzi and Burt over the proposal, with Sammy abruptly standing up and banging the table with his fists for the commotion to stop. He accepts Monica's suggestion after she tells him her father owns a 16mm Arriflex camera that he would let him use, and the requisite editing machine.

After finally moving from a rental home to their brand new purchased home, Mitzi and Burt announce their divorce following the discovery of Mitzi's affair by Sammy, and Burt's suspicions, leaving the family heartbroken. At prom night, Sammy declares his love for Monica and asks her to come with him to Hollywood after graduating from high school. Unable to throw away her own life's goals to attend Texas A&M University, Monica breaks up with him. Meanwhile, the Ditch Day film is played in front of Sammy's peers, where it receives a rapturous response, seemingly praising Logan for his sporting prowess and denigrating Chad as a loser. Logan confronts Sammy, confused over his positive portrayal in the film, but the two reach an understanding when Chad attacks Sammy and Logan fights Chad off. The next morning, arriving back from the prom, Mitzi and Sammy talk about their future together, with Mitzi explaining that she cannot give up her love for Bennie, and that he should also not give up his love for filmmaking.

The next year, 1965, Sammy is living with Burt in an apartment in Hollywood. Unable to find work in the field of TV or film, Sammy considers dropping out of college because he hates it anyway, but Burt, reluctantly accepts his son's passion after seeing a photograph of Mitzi and Bennie together at a house party back in Phoenix, tells him to keep on his path if it makes him happy. Sammy finally receives a letter from CBS, offering him work on the upcoming sitcom 'Hogan's Heroes'. Knowing that Sammy is more interested in filmmaking, a network executive invites Sammy to meet acclaimed film Director John Ford (David Lynch), who has an office just across the hallway, and who is one of his greatest filmmaking influences. After lighting up a big fat cigar, Ford offers Sammy some sage advice about framing a scene. Newly encouraged by his brief five minutes with Ford, Sammy walks through the studio backlot on a warm sunny day, as the camera frames the horizon to the centre, contrary to Ford's advice which he said is 'boring', before ending by taking the Director's advice and re-framing the horizon at the far bottom, which is much more 'interesting', or at the top. 

'The Fabelmans' is Steven Spielberg's most intimate, heartfelt and insightful film yet, and here, once again, he has demonstrated his deft touch to be able to weave a personal story, keep it grounded and tell it in such a way that it will maintain your interest for all of its 151 minute run time. This film is a solid mix of family oriented drama, coming of age comedy, and part documentary that celebrates the early influences and inspirations that moulded Steven Spielberg into one of the greatest living film makers who over the course of thirty-four feature films and 50+ years has consistently taken his audience on a roller coaster ride exploring just about every film genre and the full gamut of emotions along the way. The cast here are on top form, including relative newcomer Gabriel LaBelle and also Michelle Williams (who endows her son Sammy with her creative side), Paul Dano (who endows his son with his work ethic) and Judd Hirsch (who offers up some pearls of wisdom in the less than ten minutes of screen time he has), and in defining their characters we learn what made the aspiring film maker come to master his craft, the personal challenges he experienced along the way and his motivations for never letting go of his dream. 'The Fabelmans' would easily rank amongst one of the top films of 2022, and is deserving of the accolades bestowed upon it. 

'The Fabelmans' merits five claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-