Steven Spielberg is one the biggest reason that I fell in love with film as a kid. Alot of his work makes part of the memories in my life. He is a great fllmaker. A natural filmmaker. Alot of critics favor his contemporaries like Scorsese or Coppola etc like to point out that he makes blockbusters and is less of an artist. I don't think there is a filmmaker that has a better command of the frame than Steven Spielberg....

The Fablemans is being billed as a semi-autobiographical film about Spielberg's childhood. It is definitely a love letter to his family for sure. It is also about his love for making cinema of course but it is very much about his relationship with his parents. The film is not called The Spielbergs but anyone who has read or seen a documentary about the director will recognize this is his story. His parents Burt and Mitzi Fablemans are played beautifully by Paul Dano and Michelle Williams Mitzi is a flamboyant artistic, quite out there lady and Burt is portrayed very much as a very intelligent If not very expressive husband and father. Sam(Steven) is played for most of the film by Gabriel LaBelle in a performance that started king's of rocky but ultimately won me over. Sam is taken to the movies by his parents in the beginning of the film and he is completely mesmerizrd. He started making little films starring his 3 sisters and his froends. Burt moves his family to Arizona and the film focuses mostly on that time period. The film does not get too heavy on the family conflict but it does show Sam's parents as 2 people who are growing apart. The film deals with the family moving to California and also with Sam's struggle with being bullied in school for being Jewish. The best Spielberg films are ones that feel like he loved the story he was telling. This film is of course very personal for him. The great thing is that his parents get appt of the attention here. Obviously this is told from Sam's point of view but the film is about his confusion, Ander but ultimately love for his parents. I did think the film would go a little more into his career as a director but I think this is Spielberg's best film in a long time.

Grade: A-