The Fabelmans
Christian Cortave

Review by Christian Cortave Patron

The Fabelmans 2022

★★★★★

Watched Dec 13, 2022

Movies are dreams that you never forget - Mitzi Fabelman 

The Fabelmans was Steven Spielberg’s personal film to date, a love letter to cinema and about his upbringings which ended up being my favorite of the year. I honestly don’t think anything else at the last second is going to surpass it. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022 and it truly lived up to the hype. Was more excited for The Fabelmans over West Side Story even though I did enjoy the latter. 

The direction/cinematography was exceptional, not surprised since this is Steven Spielberg & Janusz Kamiński who are masters of what they do. The same goes for Spielberg and Kushner’s screenplay. This was their 4th collaboration and it was the best one yet. John Williams, the maestro himself worked with Spielberg yet again, first time since The Post and composed yet another brilliant score. There’s a reason why he’s one of the greatest composters ever. 

Gabriel LaBelle was amazing as Sammy Fableman, he was very likable and you were rooting for him to thrive as a filmmaker. He’s someone who I’m sure I would’ve gotten along since I also love cinema and would’ve had his support. Paul Dano was also pretty good as his father Burt. Between this and The Batman, Dano truly had himself an awesome 2022. Both of those are in my Top 5 of the year which is impressive. Seth Rogen was the one cast member I was most excited to see prior to David Lynch (more on him later). I still remember being so surprised when it was announced that Seth Rogen got casted in The Fabelmans. Even tweeted “Never thought I’d see Seth Rogen work with Steven Spielberg” because it’s true! I don’t think anyone saw it coming and thankfully it happened. He’s not in the movie that much but I did enjoy his screen presence as Bennie, the “uncle” figure to Sammy. It was nice seeing Rogen in something that wasn’t a comedy again, shows that he’s able to thrive in any genre. 

Judd Hirsch is only in The Fabelmans for about 10-12 minutes and his scene was absolutely incredible. It floored me with how good that was & it’s arguably the best scene other than the ending which I’ll get to soon. Very unforgettable sequence for sure, and it surprised me how we didn’t see his character afterwards. And last but certainly not least, the luminous Michelle Williams was sensational as Mitzi, Sammy’s mother. This was one of her best performances yet and I loved her quite a bit. Williams was the early frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress & had Universal not made that questionable decision to have her in Lead Actress, Williams would’ve won her long overdue Oscar. That’s not happening anymore given how competitive Lead Actress is. 

In conclusion, The Fabelmans was everything that I wanted it to be & loved every minute of it. It’s truly unfortunate that this didn’t have that good of a theatrical release when it absolutely deserved one. I still can’t believe that my theaters didn’t show the new film from Steven Spielberg, of all people!! The Fabelmans deserved a theatrical experience from me and it’s a shame that didn’t happen. However, I’m still happy to have seen it, even at the comfort of my own home. I love Steven Spielberg so much, he’s the one who got me into loving film & I can’t wait to see him win all the Best Director awards. I never thought I’d see him win another Oscar in my life and the thought of seeing Spielberg potentially take the stage on Oscar Sunday with another trophy in his hand might move me to tears. Steven Spielberg forever and I’m so looking forward for his Bullitt film with Bradley Cooper. 

Felt like ending my review in Lynchian style. When it was announced that David fucking Lynch was going to be in The Fabelmans, I couldn’t believe it and became so hyped. Even though most of us knew it was probably going to be a brief role, how could you not get excited for a legendary director getting to work with another legend? At first, I thought Lynch was going to be Sammy’s grandpa but there was speculation where he could play John Ford. That made sense since they both sound similar and it ended up coming to fruition. And what we got was something incredible, that entire John Ford sequence is hands down one of my favorite scenes of the year. Had such a big grin on my face because of how awesome it ended up being. Thank you King Spielberg for making this happen & also for giving us one of your very best films

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