The Fabelmans - 5/5

 Directed by Stephen Spielberg, Written and Directed by Stephen Spielberg and Tony Kushner

The Fabelmans is based on the childhood of Stephen Spielberg. Being the only son of four children, Sam (as his character is named in the movie) received special attention from his mother who, when he displayed an interest in film making at a very young age, indulged his passion completely. 

After watching a train crash in Cecil B. DeMille's Greatest Show on Earth, Sam suddenly wants an electric train set for Hanukkah. And his father accedes to his request. But Sam doesn't want it because he's interested in trains. He wants to reenact the train crash he'd seen in the movie which outrages his father when he gets up late in the night to fulfill his wish. He's gold that the train must be cared for, not abused. 

In response, he and his mother decide that filming the crash with his father's 8 mm camera would prove a solution. He could watch the crash more than once without damaging further damaging the train set. Of course, Sam films the crash over and over again from different angles to fully recreate what he'd seen on the screen. 

And so, his interest in film making begins. But the film is not just about Stephen's early interest in filmmaking. It's also about family dynamics, his father's obsession with computers that were just beginning to be manufactured back in the 1960s and his mother's love of the arts and the conflict between them. And there was always Uncle Benny, Sam's father's best friend hovering in the background. 

Of all the eight Oscar nominations we've seen for best picture for 2022, this was easily the most enjoyable, a family epoch to which we can all relate.