If the main character in “The Fabelmans” is also called Sammy, director Steven Spielberg is behind it himself. In the coming-of-age drama, the 76-year-old tells a semi-autobiographical account of how he fell in love with film as a child and art as a teenager of filmmaking discovered.
Steven Spielberg’s very personal work “The Fabelmans” has already won five Golden Globes. When the Oscars are presented in Los Angeles on March 12, the director and his team can hope for seven more prizes. Among other things, the mix of emotional family drama and coming-of-age story has been nominated in the categories “Best Film”, “Best Director”, “Best Original Screenplay” and “Best Production Design”.
Parts of the cast can also speculate on a golden boy. Michelle Williams for Best Actress in a Leading Role as Mother Mitzi and Judd Hirsch for Best Supporting Actor, playing Sammy’s artist uncle Boris. Last but not least, the film is in the “Best Film Music” category, for which Spielberg’s friend John Williams is once again responsible.
And “The Fabelmans” would have deserved every single one of these awards. Spielberg tells his story semi-autobiographically. The viewer learns how the now 76-year-old discovered his love for film as a child and what family resistance he had to contend with as a teenager in order to be able to pursue his dream career.
Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) resides with his family on the US East Coast until his father Burt (Paul Dano) moves to California for work and so does the assembled gang, including mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams), family friend “Uncle” Bennie (Seth Rogen) and Sammy’s three siblings, relocated to the sunny West Coast. At this point, Sammy had already discovered his love for film through what was actually a traumatic cinema experience as a child.
With the support of his mother, the help of his sisters and later many friends, he made his first films and proved that he had a great talent for storytelling. Sammy’s father Burt is proud of his eldest son’s commitment, but when he plans to turn his hobby into a career, he resists. However, Sammy not only has to fight against his father’s resistance, there are also developments within the rest of the family that the teenager discovers through the lens of his camera that disturb him and turn his life upside down.
It is well known that Sammy alias Steven prevailed against his father, otherwise films like “ET”, “Jaws”, “Jurassic Park”, “Indiana Jones”, “Schindler’s List” or even “The Fabelmans” would to not give. With the latter, however, one also learns how Spielberg’s love for cinema came about and grew.
In the 1950s, film was a non-continuous experience. It was something special that could grip body and mind and never let go. That’s what happens to Sammy, who as a tot watches a scene in a film in which a car collides with a train, whereupon the train derails with a lot of noise. So that the boy understands what actually happened on screen and can finally sleep peacefully again, mother Mitzi helps him to reenact this scene at home and thus unknowingly lays the foundation for this special career.
From now on, Sammy is seen assembling his equipment, creating sets and effects with minimal resources and a lot of imagination, editing the material and bringing it to the screen, where it delights the initially related viewers. The magic that Spielberg saw and still sees in filmmaking can be seen and felt in almost every scene of The Fabelmans. All the short films that teenager Sammy makes show how he gradually mastered this art. But that’s not the only thing that makes the film worth seeing.
The relationships within the family and their developments are also touching. Michelle Williams as Mitzi manages to say 1000 words with just one look. Expressing sadness, pain and regret when she realizes that her son is struggling to keep a secret that is actually hers and that cannot be kept secret for very long. In general, the triangle of Williams, LaBelle and Dano draws an emotional family picture that, despite all the harmony, is not immune to drama.
Measured against Spielberg’s previous work, “The Fabelmans” is certainly his most down-to-earth film, which radiates a lot of love and warmth. And that is on the one hand probably the greatest strength of the two and a half hour drama, but that’s why some fans might not like it as much, who might only recognize it as a laboriously produced US homeland film.
“The Fabelmans” will be in cinemas from March 9th.
