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New Spielberg movie: The Fabelmans (2022)


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All the "childhood" years are without any score. It's obvisously a choice... But, hey, all the beginning of a movie without an original score... that's heavy man.

 

And that "cameo" at the end of the movie, the "famous" director scene... that was half-funny and half-distracting (wait a minute, is it really... yes it's him... no? Google!). Generally, I've found the casting of this movie to be very uneven anyway.

 

A nice movie in the ensemble, some too long scenes (you know, when you have to wait the music to end... sort of those kind of things, I said cut to myself more than one time!).

 

I don't think Spielberg is very at ease to tell personal stories, even his own one.

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On 16/12/2022 at 6:14 AM, Bespin said:

All the "childhood" years are without any score. It's obvisously a choice... But, hey, all the beginning of a movie without an original score... that's heavy man.

 

And that "cameo" at the end of the movie, the "famous" director scene... that was half-funny and half-distracting (wait a minute, is it really... yes it's him... no? Google!). Generally, I've found the casting of this movie to be very uneven anyway.

 

A nice movie in the ensemble, some too long scenes (you know, when you have to wait the music to end... sort of those kind of things, I said cut to myself more than one time!).

 

I don't think Spielberg is very at ease to tell personal stories, even his own one.

Apostasy! If this movie fails to maintain its frontrunner status as best pic and JW fails to win his sixth Oscar because of it, I’m pinning the blame on your indifference to the film!

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  • 4 weeks later...

OK I saw the film at the cinema this afternoon

 

Who made the incredibly inane decision to have Michelle Williams compete in the Best Actress category instead of Best Supporting Actress?  In no possible way is she the lead or a co-lead of this film;  The only lead in the film is Sam Fabelman, everyone else is either supporting or a one-scene cameo

 

She might have had a chance at winning Supporting but won't win Best Actress

 

Was this Universal's idea, or her agent's?  Either way, someone fucked up

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tiny new interview with Spielberg

 

https://deadline.com/2023/01/oscars-2023-steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-indiana-jones-disney-series-1235239433/

 

I hadn't realized until reading that, that The Fabelmans is his first Oscar nom for writing

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15 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yea, I saw the movie, and I remember the last shot.  What camera shake are you talking about?

Maybe he means that weird camera shake,

Spoiler

where the horizon is in the middle and the camera goes up abruptly and now the horizon is down.

 

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Finally watched it on the big screen. Overall it was good, I liked it but I did find it a bit too long. Also, to me there were two competing movies -one being the family drama and the other the filmmaking stuff- that never quite ended up relating as much as I hoped. I actually found myself more interested in most of the family drama stuff than the movie-making material.

 

Personally, I think the movie suffers a bit by presenting the kid Sammy at the start. It's like there are 20 minutes of movie at the beggining before it actually starts to get going. Personally, I think it would have been better to start with the Sammy that accompanies us through most of the movie. 

 

While I loved the ending, the whole movie left me feeling a bit... empty. And kinda sad. 

 

It's the least Spielberg-ian movie of his carreer. Which is both its biggest strenght and its biggest weakness. 

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12 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Maybe he means that weird camera shake,

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where the horizon is in the middle and the camera goes up abruptly and now the horizon is down.

 

I've not yet seen the film. Is it like the upside down image, in AMISTAD? Perhaps not in style, but in meaning?

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For a anyone interested in the conception of this movie, I can recommend this interview with Tony Kushner, who is the screenwriter for The Fabelmans (as well as for Lincoln and Munich to mention a few others).

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/se/podcast/script-apart/id1518622561?i=1000596967816

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FINALLY saw the film this morning!

 

Superb, 5 out of 5. Although there are some real, dramatic moments in Spielberg's early life that I would have loved to see adapted into the story (the meteor shower, more of the resentment he felt for his father that eventually turned into the spielbergian trait "deceptive father figures", the making of FIRELIGHT, the recruitment of his bullies into the films he made, the sneaking into the Universal lot etc.), I took it for what it was, primarily a story about his parents and love of cinema.

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47 minutes ago, Thor said:

the making of FIRELIGHT

 

Yeah, there were a few things that I wanted to see, just because they would have been more of a showcase for Phoenix in the 60's. There's only one scene that really relies on specific landmarks, the scene where Bennie buys him the camera features Camelback Mountain and The Kachina cinema. The mountain is still there.

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57 minutes ago, Thor said:

more of the resentment he felt for his father that eventually turned into the spielbergian trait "deceptive father figures"

 

I think changing the story so that the kids are blaming the mother instead of the father for the divorce (or at least aren't blaming the father completely) might be the single biggest reason he made it THE FABELMANS instead of THE SPIELBERGS, because it is such a fundamental change.

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I was thinking that maybe Mitzi taking the kids out to see the tornado was a 'substitute' for when Arnold Spielberg took the kids out at night to see the meteor shower, but the only thing they have in common is that a parent suddenly takes them out to see a natural phenomenon. Other than that, they're very different. The meteor shower incident fuelled young Spielberg's imaginative powers, the curiousity for life "out there", while the tornado scene just seemed to be a metaphor for Mitzi's "inner tornado" at that point in the story, so to speak.

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7 minutes ago, Thor said:

I was thinking that maybe Mitzi taking the kids out to see the tornado was a 'substitute' for when Arnold Spielberg took the kids out at night to see the meteor shower, but the only thing they have in common is that a parent suddenly takes them out to see a natural phenomenon. Other than that, they're very different. The meteor shower incident fuelled young Spielberg's imaginative powers, the curiousity for life "out there", while the tornado scene just seemed to be a metaphor for Mitzi's "inner tornado" at that point in the story, so to speak.

 

I think Spielberg has said that it is something his mother actually did, the tornado thing.  I think you're right about the metaphor, but I don't think it was invented for the purpose, but chosen from his memories.

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Ah, so he's said that? It's not in any of my biographies, as far as I can recall, but maybe it's something he said in a recent interview. By the way, speaking of the meteor shower incident, I did look for his trademark shooting stars in the film, but couldn't see any. Plenty of backlight, though, loved that.

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9 minutes ago, Thor said:

Ah, so he's said that? It's not in any of my biographies, as far as I can recall, but maybe it's something he said in a recent interview

 

I've watched so much of Spielberg talking about the movie in various contexts the last few months, I have no idea where I might have seen it, but I'm pretty sure he said it really happened.

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2 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Does it have the bit where he's evicted from the film set, by Hitchcock?

 

Much too late, alas. I'd love to see a FABELMANS 2 where we get to see some of the early industry beginnings. Won't happen, of course, but one can dream.

 

Was happy to see the Ford scene, as I -- too -- have heard it many times over the years. Having Lynch (one of my other favourite directors) portray him was extra bonus, of course.

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Watched the rest of the movie. Sam's girlfriend (who thinks Jesus is sexy) was great and for some reason the highlight of the second half. All in all, I loved the lighthearted tone. It also reminded me of the filmmaking of the 70s'. Kaminski's camera work never draws attention to itself. It's all about the characters. And yes, the score fits the scenes like a glove. My favorite piece, one that worked very well in the movie, is Concerto in D minor (Bach). So yes, finally a good Spielberg movie but probably not one that I'm going to want to watch again any time soon. 

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4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Much too late, alas. I'd love to see a FABELMANS 2 where we get to see some of the early industry beginnings. Won't happen, of course, but one can dream.

 

Was happy to see the Ford scene, as I -- too -- have heard it many times over the years. Having Lynch (one of my other favourite directors) portray him was extra bonus, of course.

 

Along with looking and sounding very much like Ford, Lynch is such perfect casting because he is maybe #1 on the list of directors that a 20-year-old self-serious, aspiring filmmaker would be the most scared shitless to meet today. 

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Just seen it. Very charming love of cinema showcased throughout. Adored the scenes of him making his childhood films, and when he showed them to his family and others. You can see the awe in the performances as the art and power of cinema are on show. A very personal story of his parents not in the usual sentimental Spielberg way, but more honest and complex.

 

And that final shot was just...perfect.

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Just watched it at the local cinema. While not perfect, it is definitely one of the strongest things Spielberg has done in recent years. At least it feels like he means it and that is quite something. The film is also cinematically more engaging than many of his other dramas. I can question some stuff here and there but was otherwise with it. Subtle Williams scores speaks of the inner feelings and demons. Good stuff.

 

Karol

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2 hours ago, Tallguy said:

Good grief! How quickly do you think things get old? If it was a baby it might not even be sleeping through the night yet!

Remind me not to eat dairy products at your house.  

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