TIFF2022 Review ‘The Fabelmans’

The Fabelmans takes us on a journey to falling in love with films and dreams

Director Steven Spielberg brings his most personal film, The Fabelmans to the Toronto International Film Festival for its world premier. Films have been a way to bring stories and magic together on the big screen, being in a room filled with complete strangers, and laughing, crying, together and relating to our own frustrations and challenges. That’s exactly what The Fabelmans reminds us of, and what Spielberg is relaying to the audiences by revealing for the very first time his own personal experiences and challenges while maintaining his love for storytelling.

The Fabelmans features a young Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) who was brought to the theatres by his father (Paul Dano) and Mother (Michelle Williams) where they watched The Greatest Show on Earth, and it changed his life forever. Ever since watching that film, Sammy had his own aspirations of becoming the greatest film maker ever, while using his siblings to add special effects. His mother always encouraged him to pursue the arts, while his father saw it as a hobby and encouraged him to get a different ‘job’ which I feel a lot of theatre/arts kids can relate too.

As we see the different stages in Sammy’s life, the film digs into a lot of his family life and different layers of their relationships. We see a lot on his father’s drive for providing for the family, and his mother feeling resentful. We see how Sammy’s relationship with his parents also shaped his voice as a filmmaker, and his love for him, but also going through teenager struggles in his life, with all the ‘moving’ around because of his father’s job, and not having his support for his film making passion.

The cinematography and the script brings a lot of emotional layers out and Williams brings a spectacular performance and newcomer LaBelle steals the show with his amazing performance. He embodies everything ‘young Spielberg’ portrays and takes us into a world of imagination and dreams.  The Fabelmans is bound to bring you into a world of nostalgia and will remind you exactly why we love film.

Watch the trailer for The Fabelmans below 

Universal Pictures releases The Fabelmans in select theatres Nov 11, 2022