🍟McMaggie Cheung’s review published on Letterboxd:
[DCP]
[Reading Cinemas Waurn Ponds]
When you think about the classic movies from Steven Spielberg, does the word “magic” always associate with his body of work?
As much as I was eagerly anticipating for this emotionally resonant spectacle that Spielberg would usually deliver, I was very skeptical whether his take on a personal coming-of-age story would be affected by the use of over-sentimentality that was always present in most of his classics that I have seen already. Still, it’s such a splashy unique portrait on growing up with the “magic” of movies, especially when it comes from a Hollywood master that is as spectacular as Spielberg. What’s not to like?
Beginning from a young Sammy experiencing his very own The Arrival of a Train at La Ciolat exhibition through an action scene in Cecil B. DeMile’s The Greatest Show on Earth, and then closing at Sam’s meeting of a lifetime with a master American filmmaker that goes by the name of John Ford (a.k.a David Lynch in disguise), Steven Spielberg entices us on an exploration of his every single fascination with cinema through the eyes of a boy called Sam Fableman, whilst also personally assessing how it defined or shaped his family life and his aspiring dreams. We also get a cheeky look at all the goodies that Spielberg wants to share with us about his adventures with moviemaking. Sam Fabelman holding a Super 8 camera, shooting films with his friends, being wildly practical and genius with how he makes films and sweating it out at the editing table, fiddling around with thin strips of 8mm film. It’s cinematic heaven, and no doubt a dying dream for filmmakers. Everything Spielberg does here is how we all can get horny from the moviemaking process. You just got to see it to believe it!
“Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second.” —a quote from Jean Luc-Godard’s Le Petit Soldat (1963)
Part family drama, part coming of-age, it’s probably true that the attraction of The Fablemans is the beautiful craft of filmmaking which was presented right in front of our eyes. But knowing that it’s semi-biographical to Spielberg’s early life, the marital difficulties that arises within his family is not only told in a passive-aggressive manner, but they truly feel like distressing confessions that only a genuine storyteller would be brave enough to depict through fiction and on film. Was it fiction to begin with? We see Sam use the visual medium to expose a hidden truth, especially with his editing equipment as he watches footages, splicing them together and ultimately confronts with something that feels too unforgivable to work with. At the end of the day, film is still everything that either Spielberg or his fictional self Sam Fabelman have lived for, even if it’s as simple as putting together a small home movie. Hate to admit it, but the family aspect of the story truly killed me emotionally, especially at the hands of Steven Spielberg.
There couldn’t have been a better actress to play “Spielberg’s mother” than Michelle Williams. A complicated role to tackle but it was always going to be enthralling and eye-catching to watch simply because it’s Michelle Williams. Stunning acting talent! Another fantastic performance added to her phenomenal list of acting credits. Perhaps earn another Oscar nomination and not win it once again. Although I may not remember the entire film in my head, I will never ever be able to stop thinking about the gorgeous sequence of Michelle dancing with the car lights shining behind her and that see-through gown. Those moments were made to be captured on celluloid. All of this is courtesy to my choice of poster for The Fablemans, if you saw it already.
Even if I’m not aware that his recent 2010’s films have not fared well to many other people, is there any way The Fabelmans could possibly make you not like it at all? I believe this was a once-in-a-lifetime journey of experiencing the life that cinema has given Steven Spielberg as he grew up throughout the years. We know that as cinema lovers, we often question what movies mean to us, and that’s exactly what Spielberg has done for us within this magnificent picture. What more could you ask for? (More family quotes from Vin Diesel?)
As tiring as this sounds, I also have more personal thoughts that I noted to myself while watching The Fabelmans, regarding the link between Spielberg and France’s traditional auteur Francois Truffaut. Most likely, I might share it for another viewing when it comes out on DVD, but I’ll definitely say that this was a marvelous theatrical experience to behold!
Possibly the film of 2022 for me, I’ve called it.
