Rare time capsule
WHY WE NOSTALGIC MASTERPIECE REMINDS US SPIELBERG’S FELL IN LOVE WITH THE BIG SCREEN
THE FABELMANS (M)
Director: Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List)
Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen.
hhhhk The opening scenes of a life lived in movies
Director Steven Spielberg has been making movies of the highest class for more than five decades now. Jaws. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. E.T. Schindler’s List. Saving Private Ryan. Lincoln. Bridge of Spies.
The list goes on and on, and yes, on some more. The titles which are not considered classics are invariably still beloved by so many. The Spielberg track record is nothing short of extraordinary.
About the only constant criticism of Spielberg as a filmmaker is a supposed inability to get personal with his audience by giving up a little of himself.
With the arrival of his new movie The Fabelmans, that argument no longer stands up. This is indeed Spielberg connecting with the viewer on a one-to-one level.
Not only by sharing deeply difficult elements of his own life story, but also by acknowledging how those elements shaped one of the greatest talents to ever pick up a camera. What we are shown here is a very faintly fictionalised portrait of Spielberg’s childhood and teenage years, a period in which his rapidly evolving passion for movies ran parallel to the gradual disintegration of his parents’ marriage.
Our stand-in for Spielberg in an engaging, evocative and heartfelt affair set in the 1950s and ‘60s is Sammy Fabelman (played by a trio of young actors across a few differing timeframes).
Along with his three sisters, Sammy thinks the world of his doting mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and hardworking father Burt (Paul Dano).
Mitzi was once a promising concert pianist who sacrificed her dreams to raise a family with Burt, and support his career ambitions as a pioneering computer engineer.
Not one of the children notice a single crack in the seemingly perfect and warmly loving glow given off by Mitzi and Burt when they are together.
However, on one fateful holiday outing, Sammy’s home-movie camera picks up something almost imperceptible to the naked eye. Something that could spell the end of this perfect couple. And, by extension, a perfect family.
In the hands of any other filmmaker, this plot would come off as little more than standard coming-of-age fare.
What lifts The Fabelmans to a higher place and keeps it there throughout is a pair of immaculate lead performances from Michelle Williams and Paul Dano.
While they personalise their characters’ private pain and heartbreak in exquisite detail –
Williams, in particular, is often astonishing here – Spielberg is free to celebrate and share his love for film in a way that is nothing short of infectious.
This is not merely some cosy cruise into the nostalgia zone. It is a time capsule that has been carefully opened at just the right time to remind us why we all fell in love with movies in the first place. The Fabelmans is now showing in general release.
BLUEBACK (PG) hhjkk General release
One of Australian author Tim Winton’s most widely read books, Blueback has taken a long time to make it to the big screen.
The core premise of a young woman bonding with a magnificent blue groper in a serenely idyllic marine setting is inherently cinematic. However, what happens above the waterline is often a little complicated (and almost always, a bit dull) to hold the attention of an all-ages audience all the way through. A technically adept and well-acted movie, Blueback delivers its simple message about the delicate state of our oceans with inarguable conviction and sincerity.
Unfortunately, the multiple storylines used to underline these points come off as very clunky and cliched (particularly those involving a corrupt land developer, an overdone type of character for this type of movie).
While the underwater cinematography is world-class and a quality cast (led by Mia Wasikowska, Eric Bana and Radha Mitchell) do their best throughout, Blueback never quite makes the impact it should.
MUMMIES (PG) hhhkk General release
In terms of the animated releases on offer this summer, no one will be putting Mummies in the same league as the surprisingly strong and undeniably memorable Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. However, there is a certain something about this ungainly tale of three ancient Egyptian mummies cutting a chaotic swathe through contemporary London that justifies the look-see. Sure, just how some heavily bandaged immortals from a distant past can enter the modern world does not make any sense whatsoever. But when did logic ever get in the way of enjoyable cartooning? If anything, the movie is at its strongest when the action is unfolding on the Egyptian side of its storytelling divide, with a few stirring chase sequences more than paying their way on the giddyexcitement front for little kids. Starring the voices of Eleanor Tomlinson and Hugh Bonneville.