In New Jersey, early 1952, Burt (Paul Dano) and Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams) take their six-year-old son Sammy (Mateo Zoryon ) to see The Greatest Show on Earth, the film (particularly the train crash), makes a big impression on the boy. Rather than wreck his own train set, Sammy’s mother secretly allows him to film a train wreck using his father’s camera so he can relive the experience repeatedly.
Then the movie skips ahead to his teenage years. Sammy (now played by Gabriel LaBelle) makes elaborate films with help from family and friends. Artistic mined Mitzi encourages Sammy’s creativity. Burt, an intellect working on important computer advances, refuses to see it as anything other than a hobby. As Sammy’s skills evolve, his supportive mother’s mental health begins to decline as issues that will eventually tear the family apart, begin to show.
When Burt’s job finds the family in Northern California, Sammy deals with antisemitism for the first time. Through it all, he manages to find his first girlfriend and realize that filmmaking is his true calling. The Fabelmans succeeds largely on the strength of its cast. Michelle Williams is excellent as Mitzi, a real free spirit, she is as prone to fits of depression as she is to wacky behavior, at one point buying a pet monkey to make herself happy. Just as good, Paul Dano is Burt, a serious but loving man, he tries to provide a sense of stability for his family. Gabriel LaBelle is perfect as a stand-in for Steven Spielberg (he even looks remarkably like a young Spielberg) effectively navigating his love for his family with his obsession for filmmaking.
In important supporting roles are Seth Rogen as Burt’s best friend Bennie, who also spends a lot of time trying to keep Mitzi happy and Judd Hirsch as Uncle Boris, a man with middling Hollywood connections who offers Sammy some important advice. Part family drama and part coming-of-age story, similar to Cinema Paradiso, The Fabelmans is an effective love letter to cinema and a thank you to Spielberg’s parents Arnold and Leah, to whom the film is dedicated.
Presented in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, this 1080p transfer looks great throughout. Sharpness is concise. There are no source flaws at all. The Fabelmans decidedly subdued palette looks appropriate, highlighting the amber tones of Sammy’s creations. Splashes of other hues are pleasing. Blacks are deep and inky, while shadows are appropriate. Viewers should be very pleased with this image.
The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track is equally pleasing. Given the films dialogue heavy nature, effects are limited. Though sporadic sequences like the cinematic train crash impress. Atmospheric effects are consistently solid. Dialogue is clean, clear and concise. There are no audio blemishes in evidence.
English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles are included.
Along with a DVD and Digital HD copy of the film, the following extras are available:
- The Fabelmans: A Personal Journey (HD, 11:00) a look at the project origins, the merging of reality and fiction, the depiction of a Jewish household in the film, Spielberg’s relationship with his parents, and more.
- Famiy Dynamics (HD, 15:28) Casting the main roles and the qualities the actors brought to the story and the film.
- Crafting the World of The Fabelmans (HD, 22:04 A look at the production design details, costumes, editing, making the beach and prom sequences, the John Ford scene, John Williams’ work on the film and more.
