Certificate: 12A (racism, brief moderate violence, drug misuse, infrequent strong language). Running Time: 151 mins. UK Distributor: eOne
WHO’S IN IT?
Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch, Julia Butters, Keeley Karsten, Sophia Kopera, Jeannie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley, Chloe East, Isabelle Kusman, Chandler Lovelle, Gustavo Escobar, Nicolas Cantu, Cooper Dodson, Gabriel Bateman, Stephen Smith, Lane Factor, James Urbaniak, Connor Trinneer, Greg Grunberg, David Lynch, Jan Hoag, Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, Birdie Borria, Alina Brace
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Steven Spielberg (director, writer, producer), Tony Kushner (writer, producer), Kristie Macosko Krieger (producer), John Williams (composer), Janusz Kaminski (cinematographer), Sarah Broshar, Michael Kahn (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Young Sammy Fabelman (LaBelle) discovers his passion for filmmaking…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE FABELMANS?
Steven Spielberg has explored many genres over his fifty-plus year career, from sci-fi to action-adventure to full-on historical drama, but the romance genre hasn’t really been one of them. His films have certainly featured love stories, but mostly as side-plots and rarely ever as the main focus, and the few times he actually has put romance at the centre – most notably his 1989 epic Always and last year’s West Side Story – they ranked among his least successful ventures, either with critics or at the box office (or, in the case of Always, both). Given how compassionate and heartfelt a lot of his work tends to be, you’d think that Spielberg would have at least a few romantic films to his name by now, but it seems that love just isn’t on the cards for his filmography.
This brings us to The Fabelmans, which I consider to be Spielberg’s first true romance film. It isn’t a romance in the traditional sense, but it is a film that is all about love: the love that each and every one of us has for family, friends, and our greatest passions. It also deals with the many fallouts of love, such as heartbreak, resentment, and the ultimate breakdown of a seemingly happy union. There is even a love-at-first-sight moment at the very beginning of the film, which ignites a passion that never goes away until the final shot and beyond. Based on this evidence alone, no doubt should remain that Spielberg has indeed made a romance movie at long last, and going by how passionate and heartfelt it is, he’s an absolute natural.
A fictionalized take on his own childhood – putting it in the category of other recent semi-autobiographical films like Belfast, Roma, and Armageddon Time – The Fabelmans begins in 1952 as Spielberg’s young avatar Sammy Fabelman (played as a child by Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord) is brought by his loving parents Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and Burt (Paul Dano) to see his first movie, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth. This is where the love-at-first-sight moment occurs: Sammy is left speechless by the images on the screen, and very soon he is inspired to create his own films using his father’s camera. It’s a passion that continues well into Sammy’s teen years (now played by Gabriel LaBelle), as he experiments more and more with filmmaking techniques and artistic expression, which his parents – not so much the artistically-minded Mitzi, but more so the scientific and pragmatic Burt – can’t quite see as being more than just a hobby. Family tensions threaten to boil over, however, when Sammy discovers a shocking secret involving his surrogate uncle Bennie (Seth Rogen), which forces him to confront the very real divide between his love for family and his love for filmmaking.
As soon as young Sammy is completely and utterly transfixed by the train crash scene in DeMille’s film (a stunt that he promptly recreates using a toy train set he gets for Hannukah), it’s clear that Spielberg’s undying love for the art of filmmaking will be front and centre for its entirety, and it doesn’t take long for that passion to rub off onto the viewer. Whenever Sammy is shooting all his amateur movies with friends and family, or if he’s just simply hard at work putting all the reels of film together at home, it’s hard not to feel a sense of euphoria as Spielberg conveys his romantic feelings toward the medium as a whole, through a mixture of sharp cinematography, energetic editing, and a jovial piano score by respective Spielberg regulars Janusz Kaminski, Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn, and John Williams. Adding to the passion is an exceptional lead turn by Gabriel LaBelle, who easily inhabits the filmmaker’s utter drive for filmic greatness at all times, with the charisma and energy to match (it helps that LaBelle also looks near identical to a young Spielberg, which makes it easy to identify him as such). Through these elements, Spielberg’s passion becomes our passion, enough to where you almost want to go out and start making your own movies as soon as you’re done watching this one.
The Fabelmans is unquestionably a deeply personal love letter to film, but what Spielberg also does by letting aspects of his life be dramatized in this script (which, written alongside co-writer Tony Kushner, marks the filmmaker’s first screenplay credit since A.I. Artificial Intelligence back in 2001) is allow the viewer to also fall in love with his family. Here, each member of the Fabelmans has their own part to play in Sammy’s journey, whether it’s appearing in one of his earlier home movies, or keeping his spirit alive even in moments of utter despair, which his parents especially provide. It’s instantly enjoyable seeing Michelle Williams and Paul Dano together as this very charming couple who give each of their children, including Sammy, the attention and love that they deserve, but as the film goes along it reveals hidden layers to their seemingly happy life which make their characters a lot more three-dimensional and certainly flawed than they may at first seem to be. Williams in particular is outstanding here, in a role that so easily could have been played far too over-the-top – hers is a very theatrical character who experiences frequent mood swings, spontaneously goes chasing after tornadoes, and even buys a monkey at one point just to cheer herself up – but the actor finds a raw humanity within her most outlandish moments which makes her feel as though someone like this actually would exist in our protagonist’s life. There’s even a great cameo by Judd Hirsch, who waltzes in as a long-lost relative, brings down the house with a showstopper monologue, and then just as quickly disappears back into the aether – which just goes to show that there are many surprises to this family that Spielberg all too proudly wants to show the world.
There are bucketloads of love to spare throughout The Fabelmans, whether it’s in the passion for filmmaking or exploring this fun family dynamic, all of which Spielberg approaches with a steady balance of drama, comedy, thrills, suspense, and – most of all – romance that represents this filmmaker at their very best. That love really rubbed off on me, for I came away from this movie not just loving it, but really appreciating how it celebrates everything that Spielberg and other film lovers such as myself hold so close to our hearts, whether it’s passion for the art itself or the people that have encouraged it along the way.
And really, what’s more romantic than that?
SO, TO SUM UP…
The Fabelmans is a beautifully romantic love letter composed by Steven Spielberg to his lifelong passion for filmmaking, represented through emotional storytelling and a compelling on-screen surrogate in Gabriel LaBelle, and his dysfunctional but loving family who are brought to loving life by outstanding turns from Michelle Williams and Paul Dano.
