On THE FABELMANS

 This film moved me in a way I did nor expect. It's a coming-of-age story centered on young Sammy Fabelman who falls in love with movies when he's a little boy. The story takes us from a New Jersey suburb to Arizona to Southern California. We follow Sammy from his little boyhood to his late teens. As you probably know, this film is based on the life of its director and co-writer, Steven Spielberg.  It's about the power of film and thespark that ignites a creativity within us, It's about art versus family and about myth versus reality.  THE FABELMANS also shows you that, even though a movie may not be a darling with the critics, even though it may be pretty much forgotten today, there can still be something in it extremely special to somebody. It may not be significant to a high-tone film critic, but it's cherished by a movie-lover somewhere.

The story starts with little Sammy going to the movies with his parents. He's a bit scared of what the experience may be. The movie they're seeing is Cecil B. De Mille's colorful and action-packed circus epic, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. Sammy's mathematical and practical dad explains how the movie projector works. Sammy's musical and playful mother tells him, "Movies are dreams that you never forget." THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1952. Even today, critics feel that De Mille's crowdpleaser was mediocre and the Oscar should have gone to Stanley Kramer's HIGH NOON or John Ford's THE QUIET MAN.

The intense train collision scene in the circus epic, a scene full of special effects, is what ignites the artistic creativity in Sammy, a creativity that will lead to an emotional collision with his parents. We love watching him recruit his sisters to help him make his amateur home movies. We love seeing his movie interest and creativity grow. We watch how it affects his family. His mother loves it. Dad sees it as just a hobby even though Sammy gets older still telling his dad that it's not just a hobby. It's his passion. The seed for all this came from a film no one talks about today. But it was special to Sammy. His passion for the art of filmmaking will cause him to see his parents as the imperfect people they are -- loving yet making wrong choices or not making a choice at all. Little Sammy leaves THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH knowing what he wants for Hanukkah.

Sammy loved that movie. He loved John Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. At the dinner table, with lots of chatter and laughter, his Uncle Benny says something about licorice that classic filmlovers will recognize as a line Spencer Tracy says in the George Cukor comedy, ADAM'S RIB. Uncle Benny supports Sammy's desire to make films. He's not really a relative. He's the best friend of Sammy's dad. Uncle Benny has special feelings for Sammy's mom. Sammy loves his mom yet he sees her as "selfish" and always needing to be the center of attention.

The emotional depth of this film shook me. I watched it on Christmas Eve. Certain scenes made me cry. I chalked that up to me being gripped by the sentimentality of the holiday season and being rather tired. I watched it again Christmas night. I cried more. Why? Because I saw bits of my mother in Sammy's mother and I saw some of myself in Sammy. I fully understood the pull between art and family that Sammy's wise Uncle Boris warned him about during a visit. I didn't expect that from this Steven Spielberg film.

When little Sammy went to see THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, I had become a classic film fan at that same age. I wanted to learn how films were made. I wanted to know about the actors. I wanted to be in movies or on TV talking about movies with moviemakers. Mom, however, had other plans for my life and that tension would last well into my adult years. 

The TARZAN movies Johnny Weissmuller made for MGM would air on a local L.A. station on Saturday afternoons when I was a youngster. I loved those movie -- especially the ones that had Tarzan, Jane and their little boy living in sort of a jungle moderne home. In one, Jane made Tarzan breakfast. She had a treehouse kitchen and an egg the size of a volleyball.

During my school vacation before I started 3rd grade, Mom was adamant that I got to summer camp for 8 days in the San Bernardino mountains courtesy of the local Boys' Club. I said "No." I didn't want to go to camp for 8 days. I wanted to stay home in South Central L.A. where I could see old movies on TV. Mom had Dad coax me to say "Yes."

I went to camp. I disliked it the moment we boys arrived. A few days later, we campers went to a lake. I ventured into the water, got carried out by a current and also drowned, I tried to yell for help. I was going under. Did my life flash before my eyes? No. And this is the hand-to-Heaven truth. What flashed before my eyes was Johnny Weissmuller swimming, as he always did, in his TARZAN movies. I copied his moves. That kept me afloat and visible until a hand reached in, grabbed me and I was rescued. 

Those old Tarzan family adventures from MGM saved my life when I did something I did not want to do just to please my mother. Old movies saved my life. Here's a trailer for THE FABLEMANS.

Michelle Williams, as Sammy's mother, left me awe-struck. She is sensational. This is the same Michelle Williams we saw as Ennis Del Mar's country wife in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, as Marilyn Monroe in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN and as Gwen Verdon in FOSSE/VERDON. His role may not be a large one but Judd Hirsch really punches through the screen as the wise Uncle Boris warning Sammy that art demands sacrifice and can lead to family turbulence. What a performance. Both Williams and Hirsch will probably be in the running for Oscars next year. David Lynch as the crusty veteran director John Ford was an inspired piece of casting. The whole cast, which includes Paul Dano and Seth Rogen, is strong. Some of the high schools scenes could've been trimmed. Nonetheless, this is a very, very good film.

My heart was deeply touched by THE FABLEMANS. I will be seeing it again before Oscar nominations are announced on January 24th.