No movie is ever 100% original. Every single film that has ever been made has been inspired by something. Whether it’s from a film one watched when they were a kid or an event that happened to them in real life, everything has an inspiration. However, there comes a point in time when watching something that just has a certain spark to it. Even if you have seen that kind of movie a million different times before, there’s something about that one particular one you are watching that just hits you in a way that others movies of it’s kind have not. Almost as if you are actually watching this story told for the very first time. The kind of movie that can inspire you the way that other movies were clearly inspired by the director who made it. It’s the moment you realize you have discovered a masterpiece of it’s own kind.
In the case of The Fabelmans, this is Steven Spielberg’s newest coming-of-age feature that is a part autobiography and part fictional tale of Steven’s early years as a boy and as a filmmaker. While this is far in away not the biggest or most aspiring film in his filmography, this is easily his most personal one. The one that feels like he has waited his entire career of making up to this point. The one that honestly feels like that everything has come full circle from in. The one that symbolically and thematically should be his final one or at least the beginning of an end to one of the most influential directors of all time. Regardless of what the complications are for making this film and what will follow afterwards, I can say with confidence that not only is The Fabelmans one of the best films of the year, it easily stands as one of the top-tier works of Spielberg and possibly my favorite film of his in the 21st century thus far. I’m sure many of you reading this will find that all to be hyperbolic but just like the film itself, I find it to be aspiring.
Premise: Taking place in a post-World War II era in Arizona, a young boy named Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) is going through a rough childhood with his family and wants to become a filmmaker. His family consists of his mother named Mitzi (Michelle Williams), his father named Burt (Paul Dano), and his three sisters named Reggie, Natalie, and Lisa (Julia Butters, Keeley Karsten, and Sophia Kopera), who are often joined by time by Burt’s coworker/surrogate uncle to Sammy named Bennie Lowey (Seth Rogen) and granduncle named Boris (Judd Hirsch). It’s through his time throughout his grade school years that Sammy finds himself dealing with complicated issues and finds that making films help him get through those troubled times. Whether it’s trouble going on with his parents, having to adjust to a new school, and getting picked on by bullies, filmmaking is Sammy’s one form of escapism and the kind of career he want to pursue. Sammy must discover within himself if making movies is the path he wants to go down at the expense of his family and friends that he makes along the way.
Okay, so this kind of story is not the most original in the world. You’ve always heard dramatic tales about directors being inspired to become what they are due to living through a rough childhood and finding that making movies was the one way they could discover the truth about themselves and those around them. I can’t say for certain how much of this movie is for real and what isn’t real but you can definitely feel the kind of motion picture is going for. However, there’s just something that the way Spielberg decide to tell this tale that make it all the more magical and meaningful. Mostly because it all feels real even if it is all 100% not. Just like when making a movie.
With Sammy, filmmaking is the one way that he is able to view things in the same lenses as everyone else in his family. It’s the only way he sees the truth. With all the twists and turns that goes through his childhood to adulthood, making movies is his way of communicating to everyone else. We see Sammy make movies for himself, his school and his family throughout the movie and his way of sharing his voice onto everyone else. Whether what’s happening on screen is real or what he wishes to be real, it comes from a personal place that the young boy we follow has had to visit over and over and over again. No matter what the case is or what circumstance, he is now afraid to show what he feels from behind the camera. That is what makes for a true filmmaker.
While Spielberg is never afraid to show the dark side of his family and what Sammy has to put up he, he never forgets to show the light side with them as well. Despite having parents that are clearly troubled with themselves and their kids, they are all doing what they do because that is what they believe is best for everyone. That’s why when the dark secrets come out, you can’t help but feel sadness for everyone involved because there was simply no other way. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And how Sammy is able to react to all of this with his motion picture can make for what is basically his overall response to such troubled family matters. It may suck at the moment but eventually, you have to roll the camera and move on to the next scene. It’s a part of filmmaking and it’s a part of life.
The performances from the entire cast is sensational. Gabriel LaBelle is ride at home as what is essentially Spielberg Jr. as Sammy Fabelman, able to capture the inner turmoil and sweetness of Spielberg’s most well known main characters along with being able to see a part of Spielberg himself in there. Paul Dano plays the uptight but dweeby daddy to perfection. Michelle Williams plays the adorable yet troubled mother incredibly well that you just want to get a big hug too, even when her character does something terrible. Jeannie Berlin suits the classic Jewish grandmother well. Judd Hirsch as Mitzi’s Uncle Boris despite having a somewhat brief role is able to make his importance to the story feel noted, even going on to deliver arguably the most important monologue in the film to Sammy. Even Seth Rogen, who at times can be very hit or miss for me, got some good laughs out of me this time as Bennie.
From a production standpoint, it’s about as well made and polished as you can except from a Stephen Spielberg motion picture. While it’s definitely still the style that we are all familiar with Spielberg, it still is the style we have all come to love. The lightning and cinematography are perfectly on point that displays the time period the movie is set in to near perfection along with being able to properly showcase the importance of each scene. John Williams’s score is outstanding and easily one of the very bet of the entire year. Although there might be a handful of scenes that could have been trimmed down to cut down on the runtimes, the editing is still very well done by Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar.
Going into The Fabelmans, I remember reading some lukewarm takes with those claiming this would not be viewed as important if Spielberg wasn’t the director. That may or may not be true for most out there but for me, that’s kind of the point. Everyone has their own origin story of what they wanted to be when they grew up. Everyone has their own story to tell and a certain way that they want to tell. In the case of The Fabelmans, while this is certainly Stephen Spielberg’s story to tell, that’s why I wanted to watch it and why it’s so wonderful to me.
I’m not someone that just wants to see my own story be exactly the same as others on the big screen. I want to see different stories told from different people. While it may not always be the same or relatable to me, it’s still what makes us all special. Not that we’re one the same but we are all different in our own unique ways. We live in our own worlds with how own ways we want to run things. When we have the time, money, and passion, we can allows ourselves to share it to the world. In the case of The Fabelmans, this is Stephen Spielberg sharing his origin story to the world.
It’s such a tragedy how this movie which is arguably the most personal, uplifting, and the biggest passion project of Spielberg’s career is also the one that is projected to be the biggest financial bomb of his career. I guess that’s the price of wanting to tell your own personal story after telling several others for the whole world. As much as it’s about what you do behind the camera, it’s also about how much the audience will appreciate your work. While it will always be your own baby, it’s only after you let the kid out into the open world where it’s in fate’s hands. Regardless of it’s tragic fate from making it’s financial return, I’m certainly grateful that Spielberg got to share his own story on the big screen and once again was able to think for himself.
There’s an old meaning of “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seem them all”. That terms is always used when it comes to big franchises or genres that give you exactly what you expect from that and can only experienced once to gain that same sense of something fresh and new. People always know the kind of things you are gonna get out of Star Wars, James Bond, or a Marvel movie. The things those movies provide as become a blueprint since the very first film of their respective franchises. With The Fabelmans, it’s yet another story about a young director having to go through rough times with his family to accomplish his dreams to make films.
However, if you are gonna watch at least one of those, why not have that one be this one? I can’t think of why not and I don’t the movie does either. That’s why I love it and that’s why I highly recommend checking it out for yourselves!
Other comments:
- I’m not gonna lie. The very first scene of Sammy’s first ever time going to the theaters was exactly like my reaction of going there for the first time. That the screens are just SOOOOOO big!
- One nitpick is that I did find some of the characterization of the bullies to be quite inconsistent. Almost as if the dialogue for both of the main bullies got mixed up without anyone knowing which one was suppose to be for which. They still act the same regardless but I did find that a bit jarring.
- Sorry if this review will comes out as a bit rushed when this published. I wanted to get this uploaded by Christmas day as I have evening plans to spend with other family members. I’ll polished it up more shortly after Christmas!
- Be on the look out for my Best Movies and Games of 2022 coming very soon!
- Happy holidays to everyone! Have a very merry Christmas and a very happy new year!
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