Weekend Watch - The Fabelmans
The Fabelmans is a triumph of a film, showcasing some great acting performances and the director’s passion for filmmaking.
Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s topic, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers is Steven Spielberg’s latest offering, the semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans about a young Jewish boy who wants to become a filmmaker and his family. The film released on Wednesday and stars Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch, Seth Rogen, Mateo Zoryan, and Julia Butters. Let’s get into it.
Letter Grade: A-; Spielberg pays homage to so much greatness in here, but it’s lacking a bit in emotional weight.
Should you Watch This Film? Probably so, this will easily go down as one of the best films of 2022, and there’s plenty in here for all kinds of movie fans. On the big screen it looks great, but I’m sure it’ll be solid at home as well if you really can’t make it.
Why?
The more I think about The Fabelmans, the more I grow to love it. Spielberg works his semi-autobiography as more of a family study and homage to the power of the camera than as a biopic or an homage to watching films. In that way, it successfully subverted my expectations and left me still thoroughly enjoying myself at the end. Each of its parts on their own is great, and together, they coalesce into something uniquely great as well. From the performances to the references to filmmaking to the little bits of home filmmaking thrown in as well, it all coheres into something worth seeing.
Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch, Gabriel LaBelle, and Michelle Williams are the acting highlights of The Fabelmans, each doing his or her own part to make the film what it is. Dano’s Burt Fabelman ends up as the sympathetic father figure, condemned to distance from his family by his own technical genius and practical mind. Dano does an admirable job bringing humanity to this character and keeping him redeemable throughout. Judd Hirsch’s ten minutes of screen time as Uncle Boris might be the best part of the entire film. He comes in as this otherworldly figure to mourn the loss of his sister, Sammy’s grandmother, and stays to give Sammy the advice that will shape his future endeavors, noting that his passion for film and his love for his family will tear him apart if he isn’t careful. Relative newcome Gabriel LaBelle plays the teenage version of Sammy in the film and carries the film’s third act, which is more of a high school rom-com than anything else, as we see the character and the actor come into their own by the film’s conclusion. If you’ve been paying any attention to Oscar buzz, you know that Michelle Williams’s performance as Mitzi Fabelman has been a seeming shoe-in for one of the Best Actress nominations, and she more than delivers here. Her portrayal of a mother and woman with passions and flaws and grace and everything else drives the film’s narrative for a good portion, and she bears that weight beautifully.
In the midst of Spielberg’s family drama, he weaves details of filmmaking like editing machines and camera models and shot framing to remind the audience that this isn’t just a film about his life but also a film about his passion. Through cutaways to family films and self-produced westerns and war movies, Spielberg endears himself and the film to the audience as he so often does, asking them to relate and want more by imparting a bit of his own passion to the audience. If there is to be any gripe with The Fabelmans, it is that, by including these other films and belaboring certain points of discovery and passion, the emotional moments of the film end up feeling very telegraphed and, as such, not overly moving. The rest of the film hits the points it needs to, making the audience love and care for each of the characters and get on board with Spielberg’s love for filmmaking; it’s just the emotional catharsis that never quite finds purchase.
The Fabelmans is a triumph of a film, showcasing some great acting performances and the director’s passion for filmmaking. Expect to hear its name a lot in the coming months of film awards, as it is deserving of plenty with its star-studded cast and great technical aspects. Its emotional shortcomings are more than overcome with an engrossing story and quality filmmaking across the board.