THE FABELMANS
****
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay: Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner
Principal cast:
Michelle Williams
Paul Dano
Seth Rogan
Gabriel LaBelle
Judd Hirsch
Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 150 mins.
Australian release date: 5 January 2023.
Steven Spielberg is without doubt one of the finest contemporary American film directors and his latest work, The Fabelmans, written in collaboration with his regular collaborator, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America), is an intensely personal work that resonates long after the curtain closes. A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story, it is compelling as we observe six-year-old Spielberg’s mind being awakened to a world of possibility upon seeing the spectacular train crash in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 epic The Greatest Show on Earth and, later, how the child turns that sense of wonder into the beginning of an artistic career over the ensuing years. As with every family, it’s not all smooth-sailing though, and there are deaths and drama and sorrow and sadness along with the laughter, love and good times, all of which have an impact on the development of the budding filmmaker. It’s a movie that Spielberg had been wanting to make for a long time, having written a first-draft in 1999, but it wasn’t until his parents had died before he committed himself fully to the project; and you can see why - it is painfully revealing at times and must have been difficult for him to make. Perhaps that’s why it is so resonant. The director explains, “Most of my movies have been a reflection of things that happened to me in my formative years. Everything that a filmmaker puts him or herself into, even if it’s somebody else’s script, your life is going to come spilling out onto celluloid, whether you like it or not. It just happens. But with The Fabelmans, it wasn’t about the metaphor; it was about the memory.”
Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord as a boy, Gabriel LaBelle as a 16-year-old) is raised in New Jersey in a loving Jewish-American family comprised of dad Burt (Paul Dano), mum Mitzi (Michelle Williams), and three younger sisters. A habitual visitor to their house is Burt’s best friend and co-worker Bennie (Seth Rogen), who’s an unofficial ‘uncle’ to the kids. The two men work in the new but growing field of computer science and, when Burt gets a new job in Arizona, Mitzi convinces him to ask if Bennie can work there, too, so the whole extended family moves to Phoenix. It’s there that Mitzi encourages Sammy’s creative endeavours, allowing him to make mini-movies and record family events on Burt’s 8mm. camera, and it’s the place where Sammy learns about the power of images when he edits together some footage that reveals a secret previously unnoticed, á la Antonioni’s Blow Up. It’s a discovery that has significant ramifications for the family and a lesson that Sammy will use to his advantage when the Fabelmans move again, this time to California, and the teenager encounters anti-Semitism for the first time.
The Fabelmans is not just a family saga about the formative years of its only son, though. It’s also about the power of art and how, if one of the Muses gets her hooks into you, she’s not going to let you go without leaving a scar. As Mitzi’s uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch) tells Sammy, “Art will give you crowns in heaven and laurels on Earth, but also, it will tear your heart out and leave you lonely. You'll be a shanda [disgrace] for your loved ones. An exile in the desert. A gypsy. Art is no game! Art is dangerous as a lion's mouth. It'll bite your head off.” It transpires that Mitzi was a brilliant pianist but had given up her passion to raise a family and Boris has spotted the same creative spark in Sammy. Burt, on the other hand, is a man of science who can’t see the value in artistic endeavours and this becomes a bone of contention in the family and a source of anguish for the boy – to follow his father’s advice or follow his own (and Mitzi’s) heart.
This is a consummate piece of filmmaking, as you’d expect from a director as experienced as Spielberg and, of course, it features superb performances from the entire cast. Michelle Williams is simply extraordinary; she’s already been nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Spielberg’s mother and will undoubtedly earn an Oscar nomination as well. Paul Dano has the quieter, less showy role of the father but he imbues Burt with a quiet dignity, even when he’s confronted by an earth-shattering act of duplicity, and Seth Rogen has completely buried any trace of his past comedic roles in bringing the rather sad figure of Bennie to life. Young Canadian actor Gabrielle LaBelle does a terrific job of playing the teenage Spielberg, a boy with “insatiable curiosity,” according to the director himself, “and as a person, Gabe has insatiable curiosity… The toughest casting on this movie was casting some guy like me, and I think I hit a home run, as this guy began hitting home runs himself, one after another.”
Spielberg and Kushner and their collaborators have hit a home run with The Fabelmans, too. In fact, they’ve knocked it out of the park. You’ll be hearing a lot more about this moving drama come awards time.
Screenplay: Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner
Principal cast:
Michelle Williams
Paul Dano
Seth Rogan
Gabriel LaBelle
Judd Hirsch
Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 150 mins.
Australian release date: 5 January 2023.
Steven Spielberg is without doubt one of the finest contemporary American film directors and his latest work, The Fabelmans, written in collaboration with his regular collaborator, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America), is an intensely personal work that resonates long after the curtain closes. A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story, it is compelling as we observe six-year-old Spielberg’s mind being awakened to a world of possibility upon seeing the spectacular train crash in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 epic The Greatest Show on Earth and, later, how the child turns that sense of wonder into the beginning of an artistic career over the ensuing years. As with every family, it’s not all smooth-sailing though, and there are deaths and drama and sorrow and sadness along with the laughter, love and good times, all of which have an impact on the development of the budding filmmaker. It’s a movie that Spielberg had been wanting to make for a long time, having written a first-draft in 1999, but it wasn’t until his parents had died before he committed himself fully to the project; and you can see why - it is painfully revealing at times and must have been difficult for him to make. Perhaps that’s why it is so resonant. The director explains, “Most of my movies have been a reflection of things that happened to me in my formative years. Everything that a filmmaker puts him or herself into, even if it’s somebody else’s script, your life is going to come spilling out onto celluloid, whether you like it or not. It just happens. But with The Fabelmans, it wasn’t about the metaphor; it was about the memory.”
Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord as a boy, Gabriel LaBelle as a 16-year-old) is raised in New Jersey in a loving Jewish-American family comprised of dad Burt (Paul Dano), mum Mitzi (Michelle Williams), and three younger sisters. A habitual visitor to their house is Burt’s best friend and co-worker Bennie (Seth Rogen), who’s an unofficial ‘uncle’ to the kids. The two men work in the new but growing field of computer science and, when Burt gets a new job in Arizona, Mitzi convinces him to ask if Bennie can work there, too, so the whole extended family moves to Phoenix. It’s there that Mitzi encourages Sammy’s creative endeavours, allowing him to make mini-movies and record family events on Burt’s 8mm. camera, and it’s the place where Sammy learns about the power of images when he edits together some footage that reveals a secret previously unnoticed, á la Antonioni’s Blow Up. It’s a discovery that has significant ramifications for the family and a lesson that Sammy will use to his advantage when the Fabelmans move again, this time to California, and the teenager encounters anti-Semitism for the first time.
The Fabelmans is not just a family saga about the formative years of its only son, though. It’s also about the power of art and how, if one of the Muses gets her hooks into you, she’s not going to let you go without leaving a scar. As Mitzi’s uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch) tells Sammy, “Art will give you crowns in heaven and laurels on Earth, but also, it will tear your heart out and leave you lonely. You'll be a shanda [disgrace] for your loved ones. An exile in the desert. A gypsy. Art is no game! Art is dangerous as a lion's mouth. It'll bite your head off.” It transpires that Mitzi was a brilliant pianist but had given up her passion to raise a family and Boris has spotted the same creative spark in Sammy. Burt, on the other hand, is a man of science who can’t see the value in artistic endeavours and this becomes a bone of contention in the family and a source of anguish for the boy – to follow his father’s advice or follow his own (and Mitzi’s) heart.
This is a consummate piece of filmmaking, as you’d expect from a director as experienced as Spielberg and, of course, it features superb performances from the entire cast. Michelle Williams is simply extraordinary; she’s already been nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Spielberg’s mother and will undoubtedly earn an Oscar nomination as well. Paul Dano has the quieter, less showy role of the father but he imbues Burt with a quiet dignity, even when he’s confronted by an earth-shattering act of duplicity, and Seth Rogen has completely buried any trace of his past comedic roles in bringing the rather sad figure of Bennie to life. Young Canadian actor Gabrielle LaBelle does a terrific job of playing the teenage Spielberg, a boy with “insatiable curiosity,” according to the director himself, “and as a person, Gabe has insatiable curiosity… The toughest casting on this movie was casting some guy like me, and I think I hit a home run, as this guy began hitting home runs himself, one after another.”
Spielberg and Kushner and their collaborators have hit a home run with The Fabelmans, too. In fact, they’ve knocked it out of the park. You’ll be hearing a lot more about this moving drama come awards time.