Countdown to The Oscars - The Fabelmans Review

Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans was an enjoyable mess of a film that strained to tell a cohesive story between the slog of melodramatic montages of adolescence, family strife, and burgeoning love for film. While I had expected this to be a soapy picture about a young filmmaker honing his craft after developing a strong passion for cinema the film surprised me with its chaotic story about a child of divorce immersing himself in movie making as a means of both escape and communication. The film is at times well crafted with very creative transitions, especially in the first half, along with its effective use of score to help bring emotion to the mostly silent movies the young stand in for Spielberg cobbles together. One’s enjoyment of the film will largely depend on how far they can stretch their suspension of disbelief as the film does not hold back on its over the top, and at times borderline laughable, acting and cheesy dialogue which mostly originates in Michelle Williams performance. I should note that my lukewarm reaction to this film could in part be the result of me finding the film to strongly resemble other shows and movies I had already seen about young filmmakers such as Super 8, The Goldbergs, and especially Dawson’s Creek. Gabriel LaBelle puts forward a very strong performance here as the youthful Sammy Fabelman (i.e. young Spielberg) though the movie's inconsistent narrative undermined his acting ability as it made his character appear poorly defined and inconsistent. The film as a whole suffers towards the end where much of the conflict in the film is resolved with nothing more than our main character getting his golden ticket to Hollywood and being taken aback by the wonderment of the movie business. I found the film’s conclusion to be a bit much myself though I must admit that the surprising cameo of David Lynch at the end as John Ford, our main character’s childhood hero, did for a moment make me too feel the magic of Hollywood especially in combination with the camerawork at the end to ensure the horizon is not in the centre of the image following Ford's guidance. I give this film a 6/10.