A young film makers Coming-of-age as a skilled artist, using his talent as an instrument to unveil the truth of a hidden family secret, getting over the pain and distraction caused by his parents divorce, and as a student fighting back the open antisemitism he's confronted with. Sympathetic Gabriel LaBelle works well here as Spielberg's Alter Ego in this semi-autobiografical movie, which makes quite clear that the origins of his film making served as a personal survival strategy. Art looks deeper, looks behind the facades of conventional behavior, and without it life wouldn't be worth living.

Problem is that Spielberg's sensitivity goes sentimental way too often here, looking back into his childhood and youth with a much too mild approach, sometimes even filled with embarrassing self-pityness, and for me Michelle Williams was quite implausible as his mother. I even felt bored a few times, which is very unusual for a Spielberg movie, sorry to say so.

I'd have wished for more sequences than the very last one, a surprising and humorous close encounter with John Ford (David Lynch in a wonderful cameo!), teaching him one of the basic lessons in life and art: changing the perspective helps a lot when problems get over your personal horizon.