THE FABELMANS (2022)

 

The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote and produced it with Tony Kushner. The film is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as a filmmaker, told through an original story of the fictional Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker who explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him. It stars Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, alongside Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch in supporting roles. The film is dedicated to the memories of Spielberg's real-life parents, Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, who died in 2017 and 2020 respectively.^[5]

Spielberg had conceived the project as early as 1999, with his sister Anne writing a screenplay titled I'll Be Home. He had reservations about exploring his family's story because of concerns that his parents would be hurt, and the project was withheld for 20 years. Spielberg revisited the project with screenwriter and frequent collaborator Kushner in 2019 while they were making West Side Story, and completed the screenplay by the end of 2020. Development on the film officially began soon after, with casting taking place between March and May 2021. Principal photography began that July in Los Angeles and wrapped in September.

The Fabelmans had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, where it won the People's Choice Award. It began a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 11, and expanded on November 23, by Universal Pictures. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise toward the performances of the cast, direction, screenplay, cinematography, and John Williams' score. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. However, the film was a box office bomb, grossing $28.2 million on a $40 million budget.

The film received numerous awards and nominations, including seven at the 95th Academy Awards, among them Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Williams), and Best Supporting Actor (Hirsch), and five at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director. It also received 11 nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture, winning Best Young Performer for LaBelle, and two nominations at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards, Best Ensemble Cast of a Motion Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Dano).^[6]

Plot

On the night of January 10, 1952, in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Jewish couple Mitzi and Burt Fabelman take their young son Sammy to see his first film: Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth. Dazzled by a scene involving a train, Sammy asks for a model set for Hanukkah, which he crashes late one night. Mitzi, understanding Sammy's intentions, allows him to shoot another crash scene using Burt's 8mm camera. Sammy soon begins filming regularly, sometimes involving his younger sisters Reggie, Natalie, and Lisa in his shoots. Burt is offered a new job in Phoenix, Arizona, and he and the family move there in early 1957; at the insistence of Mitzi, Burt's best friend and business partner Bennie Loewy goes with them.

Years later, a now-teenage Sammy continues making films with his friends in a Boy Scout troop, during which he begins utilizing post-production effects and subsequently earns a badge in photography. Later, the Fabelmans, including Bennie, take a camping trip with Sammy capturing footage of their vacation. One night of the trip, Mitzi starts dancing in her nightgown in the dark. Burt tells Sammy to film her dancing, and when Sammy responds that there isn’t enough light, Bennie turns on car headlights, providing enough light but also backlighting Mitzi’s body through her nightgown.

Shortly afterwards, Mitzi's mother dies from old age, leaving her especially distraught. Providing him with enough film editing equipment, Burt recommends that Sammy should turn the camping trip footage into a film in an effort to cheer Mitzi up, emphasizing that he should include Mitzi's dance. Sammy objects over the scheduling of his next film, but Burt, who sees Sammy's passion for film as nothing more than a hobby, argues that the home movie is more important.

The next morning, the Fabelmans receive a surprise visit from Mitzi's uncle Boris, a former lion tamer and film worker. That night, he speaks with Sammy about compromising his family with art, telling him that both aspects will continue to be at odds with one another. After Boris leaves, Sammy begins editing the camping trip footage, during which he notices evidence of Mitzi and Bennie having an affair, leaving him angry.

After weeks of harsh treatment towards her and Bennie, Sammy and Mitzi get into a heated argument. In a fit of rage over her son's behaviour, Mitzi slaps him across the back, forcing a distraught Sammy to show her the compiled footage. He promises to keep it a secret between them. The following week, Burt receives a promotion from work, requiring his family to move with him to Saratoga, California. In order to keep their marriage intact, Bennie stays in Phoenix, but not before gifting Sammy a new film camera. Sammy continuously refuses the camera in light of falling out with Bennie until he lets him pay $35 for it. Despite purchasing the camera, Sammy announces he will never use it.

Soon after arriving in his new neighborhood and school, Sammy becomes targeted by students Logan and Chad, who levy anti-Semitic abuse toward him. Sammy also begins dating the devoutly Christian Monica. While having dinner with the Fabelmans, Monica suggests that Sammy film their Ditch Day at the beach, something Sammy considers and eventually accepts to do after Monica tells him her father owns a 16mm Arriflex camera that he would let him use. After finally moving from a rental to their newly purchased home, Mitzi and Burt announce their divorce due to the former's extreme depression and the latter's discovery of the affair, leaving the family, especially Sammy, heartbroken.

During prom, Sammy declares his love for Monica and asks her to come with him to Hollywood after high school. Unable to throw away her own life's plans to attend Texas A&M University, Monica breaks up with Sammy, leaving him despondent. The Ditch Day film is played in front of Sammy's peers, where it receives a rapturous response. The film appears to glorify Logan and vilify Chad. When Logan confronts Sammy, confused over his positive portrayal in the film, the two reach an understanding until Chad attacks Sammy only for Logan to fight him off. The next morning, Mitzi and Sammy talk about their future together; just like Mitzi cannot give up her love for Bennie, she tells Sammy not to give up his love for filmmaking.

The following year, Sammy is living with Burt in Hollywood. Unable to find work in the field, Sammy considers dropping out of college, but Burt, begrudgingly accepting his son's passion after seeing a photograph of Mitzi and Bennie together, tells him to keep on his path if it makes him happy. Sammy finally receives a letter from CBS, who offer him work on the sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Knowing that Sammy is more interested in filmmaking, show co-creator Bernard Fein invites Sammy to meet film director John Ford, one of his greatest filmmaking influences, who offers Sammy some brief pointers about framing. Newly invigorated, Sammy walks through the studio backlot as the camera frames the horizon to the center, contrary to Ford's advice, before ending by taking the advice and re-framing the horizon at the far bottom.

Cast

• Gabriel LaBelle as Samuel "Sammy" Fabelman, the sixteen-year-old son of the family who aspires to become a filmmaker. He is based on Spielberg.
  • Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord as young Sammy
• Michelle Williams as Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman, Sammy's encouraging mother and a skilled pianist. She is based on Spielberg's mother, Leah Adler.
• Paul Dano as Burt Fabelman, Sammy's father and a computer engineer. He is based on Spielberg's father, Arnold Spielberg.
• Seth Rogen as Bennie Loewy, Burt's co-worker and best friend who becomes a surrogate uncle to Sammy
• Julia Butters as Regina "Reggie" Fabelman, the first younger sister of Sammy who has a bitter relationship with him. She is based on Spielberg's sister, Anne.
  • Birdie Borria as young Reggie
• Judd Hirsch as Boris Podgorny, Sammy's granduncle and a former film worker and circus lion tamer
• Jeannie Berlin as Hadassah Fabelman, Burt's mother
• Robin Bartlett as Tina Schildkraut, Mitzi's mother
• Keeley Karsten as Natalie Fabelman, Sammy's second younger sister. She is based on Spielberg's sister, Nancy.
  • Alina Brace as young Natalie
• Sophia Kopera as Lisa Fabelman, Sammy's third younger sister. She is based on Spielberg's sister, Sue.
• Sam Rechner as Logan Hall, a high school bully
• Oakes Fegley as Chad Thomas, another high school bully
• Chloe East as Monica Sherwood, a classmate and love interest of Sammy's
• Isabelle Kusman as Claudia Denning, a classmate and love interest of Logan's
• Chandler Lovelle as Renee, a girl whom Logan cheated on Claudia with
• Gustavo Escobar as Sal, a member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Nicolas Cantu as Hark, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Cooper Dodson as Turkey, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Gabriel Bateman as Roger, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who appears alongside his family in his first films
• Stephen Smith as Angelo, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• Lane Factor as Dean, another member of Sammy's Boy Scout troop who helps him make films
• James Urbaniak as Grand View High School Principal
• Connor Trinneer as Phil Newhart
• David Lynch as John Ford, the famous film director whose work influences Sammy's filmmaking
• Greg Grunberg as Bernie Fein, the co-creator of Hogan's Heroes, who offers Sammy a chance to work on the show at CBS
• Jan Hoag as Nona, a secretary who works at CBS
• Crystal as Bennie the Monkey, the Fabelmans' pet monkey