The Fabelmans 4K UHD (2022)

[moviemaker]

"If the horizon is at the bottom it's interesting."
"If the horizon is at the top it's interesting"
"If the horizon is in the middle, it's not interesting. Now get the **** outta here."

"Mr. Ford? Thank you."

"My pleasure. Good luck to you."

From memory seeing it twice in the theater so I may be off. It's a good film, not a great one. The problem is he has so much reverence for his parents, he can never really mine the flaws to make it dramatic enough for the audience (whether it's true or not--this is a film, not a documentary). And we never see a filmmaker who struggles to find his voice.

In a nutshell, there is not enough conflict. There is not enough at stake. And I think Spielberg is too close to the material. What we get is a child whose mom might be a little "creative" (i.e. crazy but never too crazy) encouraging Steven to make movies and a dad who comes across a milk toast is a little practical-minded (but never too practical) yet gives in and gets Steven anything he needs to make his films, even working on his set. This very well may be how they were, but it's not enough to justify a film about it.

It's at least 30 minutes too long, and in typical late-stage Spielberg fashion, it contains an epilogue, that could easily be lifted right out of the film, which ironically is the best scene in the entire film. It's a meeting that Spielberg said really set him on a path to being a filmmaker but in a weird way it comes out of nowhere.

But we never really see Steven develop his specific point of view as a director. Those moments in his life that shape him as a director.

There are no scenes of Steven's Firelight short film that was the basis of Close Encounters which played in a theater and actually made money. No scenes of Spielberg sneaking into the Universal lot, setting up a shop in a vacant office, and calling random film producers trying to get a job. Or struggling to make his first real short film, Amblin'. Or working with Joan Crawford on Night Gallery and with a DP and crew who disliked Spielberg so much they refused to work with him so he was essentially let go. Later coming back hat in hand and promising to be a better TV director and making Columbo's pilot Murder By The Book.

Instead, the question that the film poses is: "Should I be a good boy or should I run away and join the circus?" It is a nice idea if a bit bland and has already been tackled in other films. But it gets so muddled and overshadowed by the father and mother conflict.

Maybe the last scene in high school is unintentionally apropos. After screening the "Ditch Day" film the jock asks Steven 'Why did you do it?" Steven answers "Did I do it to make you look good? Did I do it because that's the way I wanted to tell the story? Maybe I'm showing it the way it really happened? I don't know." And I think Spielberg really didn't know or couldn't decide what story he wanted to tell, so he told a little bit of everything.

I am a huge Spielberg fan so this is coming from a place of love for his work. He will always have my utmost respect and admiration so I will of course get the 4K when it comes out.

If anyone is interested here is a great podcast with Tony Kushner where they unpack the writing of "The Fabelmans" in detail: https://www.scriptapart.com/episodes...hner-interview