Review of The Fabelmans (2022) by Rebecca31 — 12 Feb 2023

The Fabelmans is a semi-autobiographical story about Steven Spielberg's childhood. A beautiful homage to his life and family. A great coming of age movie and a must see for all the Spielberg fans. Young Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryan/Gabriel LaBelle) aspires to become a filmmaker, facing issues throughout his childhood and adolescence with bullying and a devastating family secret. He explores his love and talent for filmmaking and how the power of films can help him see the truth.

The Fabelmans is more of a love letter to Steven Spielberg's family than a love letter to cinema. It's described as the most personal film that Spielberg has ever made, and I wouldn't doubt that for a second. It's constantly tugging at the heartstrings and the emotion and love that went into this pours out of the film.

My main issue with The Fabelmans is it felt dragged out and at the same time left me wanting more. Part of me wanted more behind the scenes of film and the movie making process, whereas it's more a nice coming of age story than anything else. Beautifully shot but it's not Spielberg's best. Perhaps the hype and discussions surrounding The Fabelmans over the last few months might have skewed my expectations. Or maybe it's just that the bar for Spielberg movies is just too high now. Yes it captured the nostalgic feel to it alright but if you're expecting E.T. you may be a little disappointed.

The cast are perfect and with Spielberg making this I'd expect nothing less. I'm sure he took a lot of time to carefully select the actors to play his family. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano were interesting casting choices but they work. In recent years there's been a few movies now by established directors that are personal love letters to cinema, this year alone we have The Fabelmans, Empire of Light, and Babylon. And although The Fabelmans is a very well made movie, it's still Martin Scorsese's Hugo that does the love letter to cinema to perfection.

The Fabelmans is the perfect choice for all the Steven Spielberg fans and movie lovers, he really is a master storyteller. Also if you've managed to make it this far without the ending being spoiled on you, try to keep it that way before seeing The Fabelmans. A definite recommendation for all the Spielberg fans.