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When one of the world’s most celebrated directors creates a piece of fiction based on his own life, you expect a film similar to many of his own celebrated works. But what Steven Spielberg manages to do is to make it both less and more, and that’s both a strength and weakness of the film. What’s wonderful is that he doesn’t start off by telling us to look at young Sammy as a future great; the film manages quite artfully to not feel too artful; it refuses to turn itself into a fable. But that choice also makes bits of ‘The Fabelmans’ ordinary.
As a little boy, Sammy is taken off to the movies, where he loses it nice and proper. Sitting slack-jawed in between mommy Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and daddy Burt (Paul Dano), an initially reluctant Sammy is an instant convert. So impactful is the experience that he starts to recreate a train crash, one of the most traumatic bits of the film they’ve watched, Cecile B. DeMille’s ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’. This is attributed to both an attempt at reclaiming control, learning about the power of something that’s awful, as well as the power of using elements that makes things better. When you come out of a crash, life takes on a new meaning.
It’s tempting to look for parallels beyond the obvious in ‘The Fabelmans’, in which Mitzi and Burt are trying to hack an unsatisfactory marriage, with the crutch of family friend-cum-third wheel Bennie (Seth Rogen). Burt is an engineer, a genius who is destined to world-changing things in the world of computing. Mitzi is a very talented pianist who would have been famous, had she not opted to become a stay-at-home wife-and-mom to raise their brood.
As Sammy, big brother to three sisters, turns into a budding filmmaker, he learns that the camera can see much more than the naked eye, and not all of it is palatable. That shock of learning unpleasant secrets about his parents’ complicated relationship propels him to take that first step in exerting control, learning what to keep in, and what to chuck out, in his home-movie. Is that also why Spielberg’s art veers mostly towards feel-good territory, meant to offer healing and closure more than provoke uncomfortable thoughts? ET always did want to go back home.
An early encounter with a colourful elderly relative, Mitzi’s uncle (Judd Hirsch in a rumbustious cameo), who has had first-hand experience of working in the circus, and showbiz (isn’t all showbiz a circus?), leaves a lasting impact. He’s seen something in young Sammy that no else has, at that point. Art will tear you apart, pronounces the uncle, ‘family we love, but we live for art’.
While we do see the teenage Sammy (Gabriel LaBelle) wrap his head around the fact that nothing is forever, we don’t really see him having to make a tough choice between his family and his chosen vocation. Many youngsters follow their interest, which can be a disappointment for the parents, but not necessarily a deal-breaker. Did he have to make that kind of choice later in his life? The film comes to a close with Sammy/Spielberg stepping into the irresistibly giddy, addictive world of the movies. And that’s as satisfactory as the most satisfactory of Spielberg’s blockbusters.
The Fabelmans movie cast: Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch
The Fabelmans movie director: Steven Spielberg
The Fabelmans movie rating: 3 stars
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