Bring out the Oscars for "The Fabelmans," a personal best from Steven Spielberg.
Opens Wed Nov 23. Get tickets!
"Bring out the Oscars for 'The Fabelmans,' a personal best from Steven Spielberg in no small part because it's a family picture about Spielberg's own family. Sentimental? Sure. Sappy? Never. No movie this year cuts a clearer path to the heart and the power of imagination.
"Whatever Spielberg and his brilliant co-writer Tony Kushner call movie-crazy teen Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) and his parents Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and Burt (Paul Dano), it's the late Leah and Arnold Spielberg who inspired this love letter from their son.
"Spielberg begins 'The Fabelmans' in 1952 on a cold New Jersey night when Sammy's parents take their frightened six-year-old son (Mateo DeFord) to see his first movie, 'The Greatest Show on Earth.'
"Sammy doesn't want to go in. 'You told me the people are gigantic,' he quivers.
"Inside, Sammy is stunned by the film's train crash, which he tries to reproduce with a toy train and a movie camera, projecting images on the palm of his hand. This is Sammy's passion made flesh. Says Mitzi, 'It's so he can control his fear.'
"Shooting sci-fi, westerns and war dramas with his Boy Scout friends -- his three sisters in supporting roles -- Sammy/Steven would show his primitive handicraft at a local theater his father had rented.
"That's where Sammy learned how his films could affect audiences.
"Sammy became so film obsessed that he would see his real life as scenes, imagining himself moving his camera around his family even in moments of crisis that he should be sharing instead of observing from a distance.
"One such moment comes when Sammy notices his mother, unaware she's in the background of a shot in an embrace with Benny (a terrific Seth Rogen), his dad's coworker and best friend. It's significant that Sammy doesn't see the betrayal firsthand but through a camera lens.
"Enter Uncle Boris, played by Judd Hirsch: his comic and dramatic tour de force is magnificent in every detail. 'Family, art -- it will tear you in two and leave you lonely,' says Boris, who sees a fellow artist in Sammy.
"He's right. When Burt's job as a computer engineer leads his family from New Jersey to Arizona and finally to Northern California, where the bullied Sammy faces antisemitism at school, daddy resentment escalates.
"Dano excels as the methodical Burt, whose eyes light up with love for his wife and son, but who stays blind to their emotional needs. Newcomer LaBelle is a star in the making, and the incandescent Williams provides the film's emotional center in a captivating, career-best performance. She's electrifying.
"Like her son, Mitzi is an artist, a gifted pianist who sacrificed career for family. Williams lets us see the sadness seeping through the performative effervescence Mitzi puts on to shield her family from her growing depression. Though Spielberg has previously handled the hurt of divorce, notably in 'E.T.,' the pain cuts deeper in a film so close to his real life.
"'The Fabelmans' ends with Sammy's intro to Hollywood in a surprise too fun to spoil except you'll want to stand up and cheer. All the elements converge to make magic, including an award-caliber score from John Williams who, at 90, just divulged he's quitting film composing.
"If so, he's going out on top. The Academy tends to undervalue the wonder in Spielberg's films, preferring the weightier 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan.' Yet 'The Fabelmans' brings us closer than ever to Spielberg as the vulnerable man behind the shiny curtain.
"For that reason, 'The Fabelmans' is more than just the best movie of 2022, it's a humanist tribute to the movie love we share with Spielberg and our own friends and family. You leave this gem with the intoxicating impression that you're in on the birth of an enduring classic.
"As Mitzi says, 'movies are like dreams that you'll never forget.' You won't forget this one.
Click Here to See the Trailer!
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