A review of the new movie “The Fabelmans”
I can understand why Steven Spielberg – who directed, co-wrote and co-produced this work – regards it with such affection. It is his most personal film to date and largely auto-biographical.I can appreciate why so many critics have supported the movie. A central stream of the narrative is why we love movies and how to make one and critics love films about filmmaking.
For myself, however, while I found this was an accomplished and entertaining work with both pathos and humour, it is nothing special as a film and, in my view, far from Spielberg’s best or most memorable (think – to take two very different cases – of “ET” or “Schindler’s List”).
Newcomer Gabriel LaBelle does fine as the 16 year old Sammy Fabelman (a thinly disguised version Spielberg), while the adult characters in his life are all well-played: Michelle Williams as his eccentric pianist mother, Paul Dano as his dependable scientist father, Judd Hirsch as a bombastic uncle, and Seth Rogan as the family’s best friend. And there’s a nice touch with director David Lynch playing veteran moviemaker John Ford in a short closing segment.
The movie successfully interweaves two lessons: how the adults in our life are not perfect and how film can ‘see’ life in new ways. But, for me, this two and a half hour work is less than the sum of its parts.