Having been brewing in the mind of director Steven Spielberg for over twenty years, what’s now become The Fabelmans – a semi-autobiographical film about Spielberg’s life — has finally emerged for UK audiences to see.
The film follows young Sammy Fabelman, a Jewish kid from New Jersey who just wants to make films, and the family problems he’s plagued with. Whilst there are many elements that have been taken right from Spielberg’s childhood, including the fact that Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth was the first film he ever saw, it is officially a fictional film.
Despite the incredible career that Spielberg has had The Fabelmans manages to top so many of his classics, and is one of the greatest films Steven Spielberg has ever made. For a film based around the great director’s childhood it could have been far too self-indulgent, but instead it’s packed full of heart and warmth.
In what is perhaps his most emotional and most nuanced film since Schindler’s List Spielberg presents a coming-of-age story told through the lens of a boy that’s always looking through that lens.
The Fabelmans has all the typical beats of a coming-of-age film including first love, friendship, bullying, as well as things like parental divorce and antisemitism, but what is so great about The Fabelmans is the way in which Spielberg shows us how Sammy Fabelman responding to all of these difficult things through a camera. Witnessing the way that Sammy uses his camera and making movies to cope with family trauma is remarkably powerful, and brought to the screen by a man at the top of his game.
One thing that Spielberg has always been great at is eliciting strong and powerful performances from young actors. And The Fabelmans is no different. 20-year-old Gabriel LaBelle gives a gut-wrenching powerhouse of a performance that fully propels you into the life of Sammy Fabelman. Of the supporting cast, Paul Dano and Seth Rogen are good, but Michelle Williams is the standout, giving a raw, nuanced performance as Sammy’s mum Mitzi.
For a film about making movies, Spielberg is of course the best person to be making this as he infuses his love and passion for film into every single frame of The Fabelmans. Even the films within the film, which are based on Spielberg’s own early movies, are fascinating to watch. Speilberg even manages to make the tiniest things like a toy train going round a track incredibly cinematic.
Bring the tissues because The Fabelmans is surely going to leave you with a puddle of tears around your seat; but it’s a crowd-pleasing emotional journey that could only have been made by the master Steven Spielberg himself. One of the greatest films from one of cinema’s greatest directors, The Fabelmans is not to be missed.
The Fabelmans is released in UK cinemas on January 27th and is screening at York Student Cinema on Monday March 13th.
Steven Spielberg is in love with Steven Spielberg