The Fabelmans

Dir Steven Spielberg

Michelle Williams, Gabrielle LaBelle, Seth Rogan, Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch.

Semi Biographical film about the real life childhood of film maker Steven Spielberg.

Sam, is the only son of Mitzi (Williams) and Burt (Dano) Fabelman. After a night out at the movies, Sam discovers his love of how movies are made, and the inner process of them. His workaholic father does not approve of the hobby, but his mother supports him. As he grows into adolescence his passion grows – and discovers secrets about his family that might tear them apart.

Wonderfully filmed, and shot – really shows the mindset of filmmakers, and how their passion starts and their mind works with specific shots. Not being as knowledgable about cinematography than I should be – this gave me much more respect for how film makers chose specific angles and cuts.

The performances were somewhat mixed, with players like Rogan and Hirsch giving brilliant performances – yet being a little underused. Dano felt a little miscast – and didn’t strike me as the ‘mature workaholic’ that he was. LaBelle who was relatively unknown to me, was sound – and was neither brilliant or poor to me. The top performer was Williams as the patriarch of the family. Williams has again and again shed the skin of ‘Jen’ and she does another Oscar worthy performance here.

A little long at 2.5hrs, but worth a watch.

4/5

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