THE FABELMANS
Cert 12A
151 mins
BBFC advice: Contains racism, brief moderate violence, drug misuse, infrequent strong language
Two and a half hours seldom passes as fast as it does during Steven Spielberg's very personal The Fabelmans.
And, in a year of phenomenal performances by Hollywood actresses, hats off to Michelle Williams for her inspirational representation of the movie's matriarch, de facto Spielberg's mum.
The Fabelmans is said by Spielberg to be semi-autobiographical and yet a check on Hollywood vs History reveals that all of its key elements are taken directly from his childhood.
So, spoiler alert - the first film he saw was The Greatest Show On Earth and he re-created the train crash with his own model railway.
This is replicated by six-year-old Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryan) who grows up (just like Spielberg) with three sisters, an artistic and very temperamental mother (Williams) and a straight-bad, engineering genius father (Paul Dano).
Oh, and there is dad's best friend, Uncle Bennie (Seth Rogen) who has a significant part to play.
The narrative interweaves family life with Sammy's progressive love of film and his first shows in front of family, scout troops and school peers.
It also addresses anti-semitism and other bullying which Sammy encounters when they move from Arizona to California in his mid-teens.
The detail of the Fabelmans is wonderful - apparently, Spielberg was particularly exact in recreating the family home.
I was impressed by Gabriel LaBelle as teenage Sammy who is facing perpetual distress in his relationships and Dano is splendidly repressed as his father.
The Fabelmans is a big Oscar favourite and it may well win because it is a very good movie.
But will it be remembered as well as Spielberg classics such as ET, Jaws, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan?
I don't think so.
Reasons to avoid: Too long
Laughs: Three
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 9/10
The final word. Paul Dano: "I really felt strongly about this part. I thought once I had spoken to him (Spielberg) and he had said what it was, I just really — it’s strange to say this about somebody who’s one of the great film artists of all time — felt like this is such an important film for Steven." Deadline
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