Steven Spielberg has to have the biggest flex in telling his own story of filmmaking through film itself.

Sammy is taken by his parents Mitzi and Burt Fabelman on his first trip to the movie theater to watch Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth. A nervous sammy watches in horror with mouth-agape fascination, as a pair of circus trains collide. To us, as 2022 audiences, the crash effects are crude and the scene is pretty lackluster, but to sammy in 1952, it truly is, The Greatest Show on Earth.

On the ride home, sammy's parents are debating if the movie was too scary for him but sammy says nothing, still wondering what he saw and that night, he goes to bed dreaming of trains. We then see sammy screaming for his mom at the top of his lungs and we instantly assume The Greatest Show on Earth has given him the Greatest Nightmare on Earth. Alas, that isn't the case. Sammy is jauntily jumping in bed and he knows exactly what he wants for Hanukkah: A Train Set. He then recreates the crash scene from The Greatest Show on Earth with his train over and over until his mother gives him the family's 8mm camera to shoot his own version of the sequence. She thinks that the camera will get the crashing trains out of his mind, or at least encourage him to stop smashing the very expensive toy around. Although it does happen, it's not quite what you'd expect; instead, sammy has now transferred his interest from the train to the camera and once he did, he never let it go as evident from the film and his director itself.

What's most intriguing about this film is that you can tell, that even after 70 years, the real Steven Spielberg remains equally obsessed with movies. He's obviously learned a lot about how to make them since 1952; but he has never lost sight of the why.

The performances in this film are just heartbreaking and beautiful. Paul dano has never had a bad performance in his entire career and his streak remains intact. And what's even more impressive, he has given us the role of a psychopath on a murderous spree and that of a loving, heartbroken father wanting what's best for his boy both in the same year. Truly one of the best actors of our time. Michelle williams OMG. What an absolute icon. This might be her most nuanced, emotionally-wrecking role to date and that shows. She was obviously the best part of the film for me because although the film never antagonizes paul dano's character (because he truly is the nicest person to exist who thinks rationally and is confined to reality), you know that he and michelle william's character can't stay together for long. They eventually have to seperate. The film uses this plot point like a chekhov's gun waiting to fire, a powder keg waiting to blow and steven builds up to that moment of lives being shattered with utmost delicacy. Even the after-effects felt due to that are felt to the core and just brilliantly written. Gabriel LaBelle honestly is literally me. He is afraid, emotional, unsure of what to do in life if not following his true passion and even willing to sacrifice that passion for the sake of the family. Truly a standout performance and I wish to see more of him in future films. Rest of the performances are also really great and not a single loose thread.

The background score. 2022, a year of such great musical numbers and background scores. We have avatar 2' action packed score, babylon's trumpets, and the batman's epic and rousing theme (which I still think is the best score of the year and the academy does a real disservice to michael giacchino by not even nominating it). Just when we thought we had it done and dusted, john williams rose from the ashes and gave us the beautiful score of this film. Truly some exceptional work here. Each and every single one of the piano pieces are beautiful and I desire to have this on vinyl.

The cinematography is also beautiful and not wanting to say much here without spoiling the absolute beauty of the shots, the 2 best scenes of the film for me are michelle williams gracefully performing in front of the car headlights in a gorgeous white gown and the last shot of the film which skillfully shifts the horizon from the middle to bottom.

I'm just happy that even though I had the chance to watch this at home, I decided to wait for that theatrical experience and got the best out of it.

P. S.: truly bummed and shocked to see this film's box office failure. Cinema is truly dying and only we can save it guys. Please go for this film in the theatres if you can because this is spielberg's most personal film to date and it deserves your attention.