The young Spielberg and mother Michelle Williams, the 8 mountains of Borghi-Marinelli, the legend Whitney Houston: Christmas movies in cinemas and in streaming

The final ten minutes would be enough for give The Fabelmans unforgettable: young Sammy Fabelman, just hired as a third-rate director, assistant to assistant’s assistant, meets in Universal Studios John Ford played by David Lynch, eye patch and lit cigar. Come on boy, let me introduce you to the greatest. At this point, Ford gives the shy apprentice a formidable lesson (theme: the horizon line) which we leave to the surprise of the spectator. A few words that represent the salt of the film and the common thread of a life spent in cinema. But The Fabelmansthirty-fourth SS-moviemuch more than the final sequence.
the sum of an ideal world and a point of view. Configure the expressive bases of ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan etc etc. the premise of the won and deserved Oscars, the New Hollywood and the rights commitment. The synthesis of an incomparable careerfaithful to tradition but well disposed to the digital dragon, which has directed the dreams of at least four generations.
A definitive declaration of love for cinema and its ghosts. All this through the (autobiographical) story of an apparently perfect American family that crumbles and a good boy of Jewish origin who finds his identity in a dark room. From Spielberg’s point of view The Fabelmans a necessary film, hatched for at least thirty years and realized not by chance immediately after the pandemic and the partial failure of West Side Story. Born in Cincinnati December 18, 1946, Spielberg here remembers childhood and adolescence, facing life with the heart pounding and the moves he made with his parents in the Fifties-Sixties: dad Burt computer engineer and mom Leah pianist adoring dance. From New Jersey to Phoenix, Arizona to California. Starting from when in 1952 the Fabelmans witnessed the blockbuster The greatest show in the world by Cecil B. De Mille and little Sammy received the decisive imprint. From the first 8 mm films to the school years and the bullies in the corridors. From the first crush to the fear of not making it. From anti-Semitic grievances leftovers from the Second World War at student parties. I dreaded going to class and going home alone. I feared the hotheads who shouted at me: dirty Jew.
The film’s mommy is called Mitzi (Michelle Williams). She wears a platinum bob like the divas of the time. buttery and chirping. Movies are like dreams you’ll never forget, she tells her Sammy about her (Gabriel LaBelle). Pap (Paul Dano) a hard worker, full of inventiveness, understanding to the point of being weak. He has a kindness that kills, Mitzie mourns. He also has a best friend (Seth Rogen) who sits at the family table. with him Mitzie betraying Burt by postponing Sammy’s suffering.
Written with Tony Kushner, illuminated by the glazed lights of Janusz Kamiski, The Fabelmans perhaps it would have been defined by the Nouvelle Vague cinema of pap 2.0, but the applause would not have been lacking. A daydream / obsession, ironic and at times moving that impressed even the severe critical consortium of Rotten Tomatoes. A liberator memoir supported by virtuous and convincing actors: Michelle Williams plays the show, but Dano’s resigned melancholy is a truly Oscar-worthy piece of bravura.

THE FABELMAN by Steven Spielberg
(USA, 2022, duration 151′)
Starring Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Jeannie Berlin
Rating: **** out of 5
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