'The Fablemans' review roundup: Steven Spielberg's latest receives universally positive reception

After entertaining the hell out of us with his remake of 'West Side Story', Steven Spielberg goes a lot more personal with his next. Titled 'The Fablemans', the film is a semi-autobiographical film from the master filmmaker. The script, penned by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, uses a fictional story and characters to explore the childhood and younger days that led him to become one of the finest film directors the world has ever seen. The film features Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as Mitzi and Burt Fableman, the parents of a young wannabe filmmaker called Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle as 18-year-old Sammy and Mateo Zoryna Francis-Deford as the younger version).

Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch also star in 'The Fablemans'.

Thus far, 'The Fablemans' has received near-universally positive reviews. On the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 98 per cent. It is incredible that Spielberg, who debuted with 1971's 'Duel', is a better director than ever after more than five decades in the industry. The film also won the top award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

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The critical consensus reads, "Part memoir, part ode to the power of the movies, The Fabelmans finds Steven Spielberg digging at the family roots that helped make him a beloved filmmaker -- and proves he hasn't lost his magic touch."

Vulture's Alison Willmore wrote, "Spielberg, an incredibly precise filmmaker, never seems certain as to what a movie about his life, or about that of a slightly outsize proxy, should look like, and that uncertainty is actually the warmest and most vulnerable quality The Fabelmans has."

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UK's The Times' Tom Charity wrote, "At times, The Fabelmans feels like a marathon session on the therapist’s couch, but that’s not really a criticism; the movie is rich in barbed Jewish humour, eccentricity, and prodigious teenage wheeler-dealing."

Rolling Stone's David Fear wrote, "If the movie does adhere to [Steven Spielberg's] signature beats, and feature so many recognizable Spielbergisms, occasionally to its detriment, it’s still one of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things he’s ever done."

Financial Times' Nicolas Rapold called the film "fascinating" that "directs Spielberg’s high-beam narrative focus on to this boy’s life, where the revelations of growing up can feel stranger than fiction."

'The Fablemans' will release on November 11 in the United States.