It's always uncomfortable to make an auto-biography. One cannot make it on a superficial level because they might as well not make it at all. So, if one makes it, it will bear their soul out. In this, Spielberg rummaged through his coming of age and found so many ruminations that he simply couldn't just put his name on it.

So, meet the Fabelmans--a Jewish family living in post-World War II era Arizona where the youngest son, Sammy Fabelman grows up to become an aspiring filmmaker. As you guessed, the story of his life is loosely based on the director's own reality. This feels like a movie Spielberg could've made anytime after making a name for himself, which happened decades ago, so why now? Perhaps because of his age. People tend to reflect more as they get older, so at 76 years old, a net worth of 4 billion dollars and a household name even among non-cinephiles, he felt it was time.

Even when getting extremely deep in movies like "The Color Purple" or "Schindler's List" there is always a distance in Spielberg's work. For many people, the emotional weight can be hard to tackle, so he always polishes his movies as a form of compulsive therapy. There isn't a single movie he made that wasn't spectacular from a technical point of view. This one is no exception. However, is more personal than anything he's ever done.

Anxiously played by Gabriel LaBelle, Sammy Fabelman spends the movie's entire two hours and thirty minutes being pushed around. On one hand is his computer scientist father Burt (Paul Dano) who dismisses Sammy's filmmaking passion as just a passing hobby, and on the other is his free-spirited mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams) who is constantly tortured by her artistic soul. "It's the artists versus the scientists in this family" she says at one point. Their family moves around a lot due to Burt's spiraling career in computing, and among them is also Burt's best friend Bennie (Seth Rogen). Unlike Burt, who attempts to engage his family in educational games, Bennie is an old-school good time. He know what the family wants, what he needs. But if you think at this point that the movie degenerates into an inner drama producing spectacle out of Burt and Bennie's conflict, this never comes.

Spielberg treats all of the family members with respect, never letting them delve into physical outbursts. Burt knows how much of an outcast he is, and while this pains him, he understands his family. His eventual separation from Mitzi who--you guessed it--fell in love with Bennie, is not blown out of proportions more than it needs to be. At the end of the day, this movie is about Sammy who, once again, is pushed around even more when his family moves to California where he is subjected to bullying and anti-semitism.

The only time when Sammy is in control is when he makes his movies, his focus unbroken even amongst familial instability. Whenever he shows his work, regardless of what happens around him, everyone gathers and praises him as one. Art is both his therapy and confidant. Not to mention, not all his interactions where not to his benefit.

There are two people who truly know what Sammy is going through. First, it's his uncle Boris who appears briefly but is played exuberantly by Judd Hirsch and is the one who gives Sammy both a warning and the greatest advice of his life: "family, art, love--it will tear you in two". The second takes place at the very end of the movie and is arguably the greatest scene you've seen in a movie this year. Without spoiling it, I will tell you just that it concludes in an iconic final shot celebrating what this movie is all about in the end--the movies themselves.