The Fabelmans

You may have heard about that episode of Inside the Actors Studio where James Lipton interviewed Steven Spielberg.  When discussing CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, the host inquired if that film's celebrated third act, a synthesis of art and science, was inspired by his parents: dad, an engineer, and mom, a concert pianist.  The director was taken aback, perhaps in the moment realizing that sometimes the artist isn't even aware of how much of himself in his art.  For Spielberg's latest, this year's THE FABELMANS, he fully embraces himself in an appropriately wide-eyed, somewhat fictionalized look at his formative years as a budding filmmaker reconciling a fractured family life and the taunts of anti-Semitism, along with the typical angst of growing up.  

Such a personal project runs certain risks.  Of being too precious and maudlin.  What to include? Leave out? Embellish? Invent? Downplay? Spielberg co-wrote with Tony Kushner and it's easy to surmise that process.  It was wise to have someone not so close to the material as a check and balance, if you will.  To tint the rose colored hindsight.  Spielberg does not sugarcoat the messiness associated with divorce, which undoubtedly had a profound influence on his life and work.  His depiction of his parents, who put on a front at least sufficiently enough to give the illusion of happiness, is credible enough.   

Michelle Williams (in a sometimes iffy performance) plays Mitzi Fabelman, the eccentric musician who views life as some sort of pageant, one that must be filled with magic.  Paul Dano (refreshingly grounded) is Burt Fabelman, the electrical and computer engineer, expectedly rational and practical.  When their son Sammy (Gabriel LaBelle) indicates interest in dad's 8mm camera - to capture a recreation via models of the train wreck he saw in THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH - mom encourages the dream while dad only sees the needless damage of a Chanukah gift.  As Sammy's interest turns to obsession and demonstrated genius, dad still treats it as a hobby.

There is trouble in the Fabelman marriage.  Perhaps it would've splintered even if Bennie (Seth Rogen) - Burt's business partner and best friend - wasn't living with them, leading to an affair with Mitzi.   We don't get a clear view of Bennie, but conjecture that he's more of a free spirit and "fun" than Burt, who uproots his weary family from Jersey to Arizona to California as job opportunities expand.  I'm not sure if Bennie's character is based on any truth, and he seems unnecessary, a story thread that adds melodrama.  Spielberg handles the scene where the parents inform the children of the impending divorce realistically and perceptively.  It will sting with recognition for many viewers.

Sammy's high school girlfriend, a devout Christian named Monica (Chloe East) is drawn broadly, just about edging into satire.  Though having grown up in a Baptist church, I met a few like her.  I was a bit confused if she was supposed to be Protestant or Catholic, as she insists Sammy accept Jesus into his heart while see does the sign of the cross and gazes at a shrine above her bed.  My wife wondered if maybe her parents represented both spectrums of the Faith.

THE FABELMANS deftly explores the influence of film on a life and vice versa.  Sammy discovers the affair in the margins of the frames of the home movies he shoots.  Portrays his classmates as either Adonises or buffoons, even if he insists he's only objectively capturing whatever passes in front of the lens.  The recreations of Spielberg's teenage epics (Westerns and war stories) were my favorite scenes, even if he couldn't help but use his fifty plus years of professionalism to frame them far more skillfully than he did back when.  I loved the moments of ingenuity, as when the future wunderkind discovers how to simulate gunfire by poking holes in the celluloid.  Viewers familiar with the Spielberg filmography will recognize nods to E.T., the Indiana Jones movies, and even BACK TO THE FUTURE (which he produced).  Some may deem THE FABELMANS a shameless vanity project.  I would disagree.

But at two and one-half hours, it could've used some editing.  The sequence with Uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch), important to the film's themes as it is, goes on too long, as do some of the high school scenes, though the film's key moment may be when Sammy's classmate, All-American jock/bully Logan (Sam Rechner), confronts him after seeing himself in a beach party film, dismayed over a depiction that he finds not only undeservedly positive, but misleadingly heroic.  One could discuss that bit for hours, and not just about Spielberg's movies.

And then there are the final moments with David Lynch as John Ford.  Perfect.  A real high note to go out on for a flawed but most worthwhile movie.