The Fabelmans

In 1952, a young boy named Sammy Fabelman walks into a darkened theater and watches a train crash on screen. That moment changes everything. Sammy, played as a teen by Gabriel LaBelle, becomes consumed with making movies, shooting his sisters, friends, and family with a Super 8 camera. His mother Mitzi, a former concert pianist, encourages his artistic drive. His father Burt, an electrical engineer, sees filmmaking as a hobby, not a future.

The Fabelmans is Steven Spielberg's most personal film, a semi-autobiographical story that traces Sammy's childhood and adolescence across moves from New Jersey to Arizona to Northern California. Along the way, the family's close friend Benny Loewy becomes a constant presence, and Sammy's camera begins capturing truths that no one wants to see. The film explores the tension between art and family, the pain of growing up, and the strange magic of cinema itself.

Shot by Janusz Kamiński with a warm, nostalgic palette, the film features a score by John Williams that may be his last. Michelle Williams delivers a raw performance as Mitzi, while Paul Dano plays Burt with quiet dignity. Seth Rogen brings warmth to Benny. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022 and went on to earn seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.[edit]

Sammy Fabelman is seven years old when his parents take him to see The Greatest Show on Earth. The train crash terrifies him, but his mother Mitzi shows him how to recreate the crash with his toy train set and a camera. From that moment, Sammy is hooked. He starts filming everything: his sisters, family trips, backyard adventures. The family moves to Arizona, and Sammy's films grow more elaborate. He makes a war movie with neighborhood kids, a western, a horror short. His father Burt worries about his obsession, but Mitzi champions it.

The family's best friend Benny Loewy is always around. He plays with the kids, jokes with Burt, and shares an easy chemistry with Mitzi. Sammy notices things, but he doesn't understand them yet. When the family goes on a camping trip, Sammy films the whole thing. Later, editing the footage, he sees something in the way Mitzi looks at Benny, the way they touch. He edits the film carefully, but the truth is there.

Sammy enters high school in California, where he faces anti-Semitic bullying from a jock named Logan. He channels his anger into filmmaking, creating a war movie for his senior project. The film becomes a way to process his family's unraveling. Burt and Mitzi's marriage fractures as the affair comes to light. Sammy's camera has forced everyone to see what they've been avoiding. The film builds toward Sammy's growing realization that making movies is not just a hobby, it's a way of confronting the truth, even when it hurts.[edit]