New Jersey, 1 9 5 2. Parents Mitzi and Burt Fabelman take their 6-year old son Sam to watch "The Greatest Show on Earth" at the cinemas. A scene of a train crashing with a car is engraved into Sam's mind so much that he uses a small camera to film his toy train crashing with a toy car. Burt gets a new job as a computer engineer in Phoenix, so the Fabelmans move there, including Burt's friend Bennie. Sam uses his three sisters as actors for his short films. As a teenager, the Fabelmans move to Los Angeles, but it is revealed that Mitzi is in love with Bennie, so she divorces Burt. Sam is terrorized by bullies Logan and Chad, who mock him for being a Jew. Sam makes a movie about the high school "ditch day" on the beach, gaining fame and respect from Logan at prom night. However, Sam's crush Monica dumps him. Sam applies and is accepted for a job at CBS, and he talks with director John Ford in his office, who gives him tips about filmmaking.
While many were sceptical when Steven Spielberg announced making a semi-autobiography about himself, "The Fabelmans" are a loving, gentle and honest little 'slice-of-life' movie that works almost as sort of a extended family home video of Spielberg's parents and sisters. The characters all ring true, while the story mixes nostalgia with bitter scars from youth, and it is surprising how balanced Spielberg is by presenting both his parents, Mitzi and Burt, as flawed, troubled, but kind human beings who all had their own dreams, disappointments and trials, so that the viewers can understand them. However, Spielberg isn't that inspired anymore as he once was, and thus only one image can truly be considered distinctively Spielbergesque, the iconic scene where the little Sam runs the screening of his film, and let's it play on the palms of his hands, symbolically showing how he "captured" the cinema and holds it in control. "The Fabelmans" remind of "Cinema Paradiso", also a movie about a kid who grew up to be a director, though it has less memorable moments. At a running time of 2.5 hours, it is definitely overlong and overstretched, since not every episode is equally as engaging, whereas one sequence near the end is a little bit too self-congratulatory, but it seems this time Spielberg allowed himself a personal movie that means more to him than to the viewers. Still, some episodes are excellent (Mitzi playing a piano with her long fingernails, so one of the family comments it's like she is "playing a typewriter"; the "fanatic" girl Monica who is only into the Jewish Sam because she wants to convert him to Christianity), whereas all the actors are great, especially the oustanding Michelle Williams as the tormented Mitzi.
Grade:++
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