The Fabelmans (2022) – Sky Movie Greatest

When a great director reaches a certain age and status he/she can do pretty much what they like.

Thus Steven Spielberg, probably the best ever director at making films for kids which their parents enjoy too, decided to make The Fabelmans, based on his own childhood and processing his feelings though the camera.

Sammy Fabelman is Steven Spielberg.

His father Burt is a decent, hard working man, scion of his family and Man of Zion who – like many Americans – will move to a new city for more lucrative employment.

His field is computers and the 1960s were good times for that career. His wife Mitzi (Michelle Williams) is more artistic – a talented pianist who dotes on Sammy. ‘Uncle’ Bennie (Seth Regan) is Burt’s best friend.

In a home movie that Sammy makes there is clear intimacy between Mitzi and Bennie and Sammy realises they are having an affair, which leads to the break up of the Fabelman marriage.

We see Sammy grow up, encounter anti-semitism in his school, date a Christian believer and pursue his obsessive interest in filming.

He gets an interview with the grumpy John Ford, who advises him to concentrate always on the horizon when creating a film scene.

In reality, Spielberg went on a tour of Universal, deliberately stayed behind and was adopted by the studio librarian.

Spielberg cannot make an unwatchable film.

His cinematography and direction of cast are superb – but the aftertaste here is the film is both too long and too self-indulgent.