The Fabelmans
2022 · Directed by Steven Spielberg
Original language: English
- drama
The story
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
What it’s like
Warm, glowing home-movie light gives way to cooler, more deliberate frames as the story moves through a family's rooms, school hallways and sun-bleached Arizona streets. Spielberg's camera drifts with a kid's curiosity, lingering on projector beams, flickering reels and the dark of a movie theatre, while the score by John Williams swells and softens around small domestic moments. The feel is nostalgic and bittersweet, a coming-of-age drama with a wistful ache under its laughter, the kind of film that suits a quiet weekend afternoon or a reflective evening alone. Pacing is unhurried, built on scenes of family dinners, car rides and clumsy first attempts at making movies with friends, and its emotional arc follows a sensitive teenage boy learning that art can help him see his family and himself more clearly. Bullying and a few tense, cruel exchanges at school sting, and a painful revelation hits hard, though the film stays free of graphic violence and gore. It is for people who want a tender, observant story about childhood, filmmaking and the complicated love within a family.
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