Spielberg is often too subtle for his own good. It's telling that he shows Cecil B. DeMille as his influence because DeMille was plagued by the same problem: a genius movie maker who loved telling stories and who was criticized for being "too populistic."

The Fabelmans is gorgeously photographed but its frames have a subtle beauty. If you don't have a keen eye for the difference between the harshness of digital and the poetry of film, you might not appreciate it. I know that Tarantino sees it. It's wonderful to see that Spielberg, with his incredible body of experience has shot this movie with 35mm, 16mm, and 8mm film. He is telling us: "There is no substitute. This is the way."

This movie is the story of why people like Spielberg make movies. It's a deep search into the demons of artistic compulsion and what that can do to a family. And even when that happens, even when you want to set aside your personal ambitions, there is no escape. Art calls you and you know that you are too good to let it go away, It would be the death of your soul and your mind.

So, this is an important movie to any cinema lover and for every photography lover. It has affected me deeply even though, I know that, on the surface, it might seem simplistic.

That's the problem of Spielberg. He still wants to entertain you. He wants the emotional climax. He wants the hero to win, because that is what a Hollywood movie is supposed to do; and so the conflict, the duality, is present even in this very personal movie. Which is poetic in its own way.

Any expression of art is an act of bringing your own vulnerabilities in the open. To let the public see inside you and judge you. This is not different but it's extremely personal and true to what is depicted in the movie which is making all this self-referencing and recursive.

It took me several hours after the movie ended to see it, but it's all there. If you watch it, let it decanter in your mind for a few hours and then think about it.

It's been a pleasure, Mr. Spielberg. Thank you for all these years of great entertainment, the world is better for it.