Movies which are autobiographical in nature tend to be interesting because one gets to see and know the various hitherto unknown facets of the life of a celebrity. When Steven Spielberg directs you can be sure to get some high class stuff. The movie chronicles his life from the time Sammy Fabelman was a kid infatuated with the magic of moving pictures. Sammy is a member of the wholesome American family and lives with parents and sisters. He first sees action on the big screen in the form of scenes of train crash and this has him hooked to cinema. This is from Cecil B DeMille's movie" The greatest show on earth". One is reminded of the old movie "Cinema paradiso " and the recent " Last film show" which talk of a kid's fascination for the mechanics of moving pictures. His dad tells him the basics of motion pictures explaining the principle of " persistence of vision" and gives him an 8mm movie camera to make movies. The movie then moves on to show his troubled life in school as a teenager, the dysfunctional relationship with his mother, the family's turmoil as they relocate from place to place and finally how he enters Hollywood to make pictures.

Director Steven Spielberg builds up a fairly absorbing narrative of the growing up years complete with the awkwardness and gawkiness associated. Scenes of " movies within movies" follow, like portions of " The man who shot Liberty Valance ", home movies where he analyzes details of the scenes filmed , the prom day shot movie, and the war movie he makes with the help of his friends. Finally all grown up and raring to go, Sammy gets to meet the great director John Ford at his office for a minute who gives him advice on how to frame shots with the horizon either at top or bottom of the frame but never at the centre. Only a true connoisseur of cinematography can say whether Steven followed that advice when he subsequently made movies.