The Fabelmans

Michelle Williams, in a role that is as crucial to the film as that of the boy who would be a consummate Hollywood gamechanger, shines the brightest.

Michelle Williams, in a role that is as crucial to the film as that of the boy who would be a consummate Hollywood gamechanger, shines the brightest. The encounter turns out to be a bit of an eyeopener for Sammy. He longer has the option of seeking refuge in filmmaking. The Fabelmans move first to Phoenix, Arizona and then to Saratoga, California as the much-in-demand Burt Fabelman hops jobs. His passion grows quickly and the boy never stops filming even though his computer engineer-dad dismisses Sammy's fixation as no more than a child's hobby. Employing a genteel, unflashy semi-autobiographical mode, Steven Spielberg returns to his adolescent years in The Fabelmans.

It's 1952 and a young Sammy's (Gabriel LaBelle) parents have taken him to a showing of Cecil B DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth.

After films like E.T, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan, the artist perhaps deserved to create a piece that is more personal than based on expertise. And it's mesmerising to watch the protagonist go through this journey through the films he makes. It's 1952 and a young Sammy's (Gabriel LaBelle) parents have taken him to a showing of Cecil B DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth. In his most personal film yet, Steven Spielberg weaves a love letter to cinema. Dano takes up the role with a boy-next-door charm. [ ](https://www.thequint.com/news)and [ Breaking News ](/)at the Quint, browse for more from [ entertainment ](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment)and [ movie-reviews](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/movie-reviews)

Director: Steven Spielberg ; Cast: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle, Judd Hirsch ; Runtime: 151 minutes ; Storyline: A coming-of-age story ...

And so does the young boy, with a head and heart full of a passion for movies, in transforming from Sammy to Sam (Gabriel LaBelle). In the film, we see Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and Burt (Paul Dano) Fabelman take their young son, Sammy (Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord), to watch his first film in 1952 and it is love at first sight. Mitzi, a pianist, encourages Sammy while Burt, a rising star in the fledgling computer industry, is slightly more circumspect of what he perceives as his son’s hobby.

If one is asked to pick on Steven Spielberg's best film to date, it would be difficult to pick one because the maverick filmmaker in his nearly ...

He brings in the right amount of innocence that is required to play a boy whose life is shown through the years. Sam navigates life and the drama that comes with it in his own way with a camera as his constant companion. As the family grows and they move cities owing to better job opportunities for Burt, Sam finds his camera as the constant companion. But his parents Burt and Mitzi are quite convinced he would like his first movie outing even though the couple later aren't sure if they should have brought their son to watch a screening of 'The Greatest Show On Earth.' Often considered a path-breaking film for its time, the film's last scene ends with an elaborate train crash scene and while Burt and Mitzi uncomfortably exchange looks with each other over the violence shown on screen, little Sam watches with absolute fascination and soon enough get obsessed in recreating the scene at home with his toy trains. A theme that runs high in his latest, 'The Fabelmans' which is his most personal film to date and perhaps his best. 'The Fabelmans' not only is a coming-of-age story of a young boy but also of following one's passion and listening to heart over head and learning to strike a balance when need be.

In The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg looks back, with openness and great feeling, at his movie-obsessed childhood and his parents' complicated relationship.

It’s crazy to think that the most nakedly emotional of storytellers had to build up so long to get to the point where he could say: “I forgive you. Labelle is just right too; his Sam, quick-witted, obsessed and resourceful, splits the difference between Spielberg and quintessential Spielberg protagonist. Mitzi is treated with sympathy and understanding—though it takes Sam’s middle sister (played wittily by Julia Butters) to change his perspective—but The Fabelmans might also be seen as an apologia to all those deadbeat dads in Spielberg films. Still, by making a film that’s explicitly about his own childhood, he’s finally addressing the ache that's the emotional counterpoint to the cozy warmth of so many of his famous films. The details of his life weren’t a secret—what we perhaps didn’t realize was how central they were in determining the kind of artist he would become. He’s traumatized and fascinated by a trainwreck in it, and takes to crashing his model trains at home. The first film Sammy Fabelman is taken to see by his parents is Cecil B. He’s on his way, even if Mitzi is the only one who realizes it. Longtime Spielberg-watchers will note something unusual in the opening credits of The Fabelmans: he’s a co-writer, along with Tony Kushner. One of my favourite observations about a filmmaker is made during an episode of Inside the Actors Studio. It’s not like Spielberg’s parent’s divorce hasn’t shown up in his films, which are marked by separated couples and a slew of absent fathers. Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman (Michelle Williams) is a musician.