The Fabelmans: Steven Spielberg’s Coming-of-Age Story

Steven Spielberg is arguably the best Director of my generation.  This film is about his childhood and adolescence, although I wouldn't quite consider it a docu-drama.  In the movie, Sammy Fabelman (Spielberg, played by Gabriel LaBelle) comes from a middle class, Jewish family.  HIs father, Burt Fabelman (Paul Danto), is an engineer working for technology companies.  Burt is probably a genius, but he isn't much fun.  Sammy's mother, Mitzi (Michelle Williams), was a concert pianist, but she gave up her promising career to become a homemaker who gives piano lessons.  Burt makes home movies for a hobby.  Rounding out the family are Sammy's three younger sisters. When Sammy is eight years old, his parents take him to see "The Greatest Show On Earth," which ends with a spectacular train crash.  This scene both fascinated and terrified Sammy.  Sammy starts to use Burt's camera to film numerous train crashes that he conjures up with the electric train set his father gave him for Hanukkah.  These re-creations of the train scene allow Sammy to master his anxiety about the train crash.  Soon, Sammy is "captured" by the camera and looks for all types of opportunities to make short movies.  Burt wants Sammy to follow in his foot-steps and do something in the world that's "important," so he discourages Sammy from wanting to make movies as a career.  Mitzi, however – having sacrificed her art for family life – advises Sammy to follow his heart and to pursue his dreams. Most of the film involves Sammy's adolescence.  By this time, his family has moved from Arizona to California to an area where there are almost no Jews.  Sammy is confronted with considerable anti-Semitism at his high school.  The family dynamics are also intense at this time because Burt's best friend Benny (Seth Rogan) didn't move from Arizona with them, which disrupted the family's previously-stable equilibrium.  All of these stresses have a considerable impact on Sammy's psychological development.  Sammy continues to improve his film-making skill and even winds up with a Christian girlfriend in his Senior year.  The film ends with Sammy having a brief encounter with his idol, Director John Ford (David Lynch). Both Robin and I really enjoyed the movie, and it is my second-favorite film of 2022, just a notch behind "Top Gun" (although I haven't seen Avatar yet).  It's a MUST-SEE for anyone who is interested in Spielberg and loves the movies.  Don't worry about a "double exposure" if you bring your significant other!