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“We're never gonna not know each other, Sammy.”

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The Fabelmans is a movie that proves you can’t underestimate the magic of Steven Spielberg. When news broke that Spielberg’s autobiographical look on his childhood came out a while back and every awards pundit on the planet immediately flocked in to hype up it’s inevitable Oscar success I actually, for some reason, remained hesitant. I refrained from predicting it to sweep with nominations and held reasonably mid-expectations, until it premiered to massive excitement at the Toronto International Film Festival where it strongly solidified it’s spot as the Best Picture frontrunner. Gradually I came to accept that it would absolutely be a force to reckon with durning the awards season and my anticipation grew much larger, leaving me to wonder why I ever doubted Spielberg. I did this last year with West Side Story and it went on to be one of my favorites of 2021. Now I’m putting my foot down and I’ll never doubt Spielberg in the future again as he undoubtedly brings his signature movie magic to the table in this film. Spanning from his first experience in the theater to walking the studio lots in Hollywood this film is like watching a dream unfold in real time.

Even with the required, and great, melodrama and conflict a proper narrative must have while watching this film I was never able to shake the feeling that this was a dream being projected in front of me. As a movie-lover who’s accepted in one way or another I’m going to purse a career in the rocky field I found great joy seeing how one of my favorite filmmakers went through his journey, even it was obviously dramatized a lot. The sentimental value and execution of passion on Spielberg’s side of directing is incredible, even though he may not be my pick I’ll be cheering if he goes on to win another Oscar for this. This is the type of film that people will refer to and remember for decades to come when discussing Spielberg, despite not being as universally beloved or epic as something like Jurassic Park or Saving Private Ryan this still leaves an impact due to directorial care put to the test. I have my fair share of issues with this film as a whole, something I’ll get into momentarily, but the amount of pure appreciation and love I have for Spielberg and what he was able to do with this alone already has me calling it one of the best films of the year.

The plot is great it’s an engaging and emotional story. While there’s plenty of fun to be had seeing Spielberg work out his early filmmaking the pulse of the story falls in between what Judd Hirsch’s character unforgettably says, family and art. One half of the story is Sammy’s family and how his relationship with his parents shifts throughout the years. We see as conflicts arise and fall, and how together through it all they remain connected. On the other hand there’s Sammy’s passion for creating an escape that he can channel his hard work and love into. In the middle sits how those two combat and learn to live with each other, a journey this story embodies excellently. There’s a couple of big issues with the story the biggest ones being that the episodic format of the narrative can eventually start to feel drawn out if you look to closely while otherwise occasionally feeling like certain events or relations are rushed. While it’s the type of story that merits overly sentimental moments to make the audience laugh or teary eyed, occasionally it can cross the line as too over dramatic as well. The pacing is great it’s a little slow moving at parts but my eyes were personally glued to the screen for the entire time.

The acting is fantastic Gabrielle LaBelle gives a fantastic performance. As Sammy he plays a young, inspired man incredibly well tapping into what makes this character tick like a pro. Along with looking and sounding like Spielberg he captures that essence all good biopic performances need, even if this one is a little unconventional due to it being partly fictionalized. Michelle Williams is the big name here, delivering such a largely emotional and memorable performance. Sure, she undoubtedly goes over the top many times but her performance is simply effective in what’s trying to be done. I don’t think she’s anything fantastic in this film and despite what she’s being campaigned in she’s definitely a supporting performance. I love her as an actress so I won’t be upset when, not if when, she gets nominated for Best Actress.

Paul Dano isn’t as flashy but his performance is just as important and well pulled off too. It’s far from a career standout but he delivers a more than effective performances. Judd Hirsch is only in the film for about ten minutes but he absolutely steals the show in a glorified cameo that he pours his heart out into a wildly memorable monologue. David Lynch has an incredible glorified cameo at the ending as well. Seth Rogen, Chole East, Sam Rechner, and Julia Butters give great supporting performances as well. The direction is phenomenal from Steven Spielberg, the amount of passion put into crafting this both hyper-realistic and down to earth account of his love for film is something for the history books. Despite it’s faults I’ll never not be in utter love with the way he always succeeds to showcase movie magic. Does anyone not think he’s one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live?

The script is great it’s a very effective and easy to digest screenplay that has quite a few really memorable lines. Judd Hirsch’s monologue is one that’ll absolutely stick with me. The cinematography isn’t amongst Janusz Kaminski’s best work but it’s nonetheless some beautifully restrained cinematography. The editing is surprisingly fantastic work too. John Williams score isn’t any fantastic but it’s still a nice, meaningful piano composition. The production design and costume design aren’t showy but they’re effective.

In terms of the Oscars this might just be the one to beat. It’s looking for a ton of nominations with the ceiling of possibility being in the double digit numbers. As of now I’m personally predicting it to get nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor for Dano, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design. Best Editing and Best Original Score could very well happen but I’m thinking ahead that they’ll be snubs. Now for the big question, yes I could see this film winning Best Picture. For the past decade almost every Best Picture winner has been from a director that hasn’t been nominated for Best Picture before, a main reason I’m sticking with predicting EEAAO, but if anyone can break the streak it’ll certainly be Spielberg. It’s almost too easy to give this film Best Picture but the academy very well just could. It’ll 100% be winning Best Picture at some of the precursors like the Golden Globes though.

Be on the watch because this could easily become our upcoming Best Picture winner. As for Best Director as of now it feels like Spielberg is practically unchallenged for a win. It’s his time and if this film doesn’t win a single other Oscar I’d confidently say this is a current lock. I’ll be overjoyed if he wins, even though it’d be his third time winning. Best Actress is incredibly packed but even with the crowded and incredible competition Williams could win. She’s simply everything an Oscar bait performance needs, if she does end up winning it’ll be a somewhat disappointing win though. Then again I have no clue of who to confidently predict in that category, I’m in between her and three others which you can see on my predictions list. For Supporting Actor I’m sure at least one person will get in, that could be Hirsch but Dano has an overdue narrative so I’m going with him for now although the race between those two is up in the air. The ending concludes on a lovely, fun final shot that wraps up the atmosphere of the feel very well. Overall The Fabelmans is a dramatically engaging film crafted in a way that attempts to embody how much filmmaking and the impact of his early years meant to Spielberg, something he captures wonderfully. 

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