THE FABELMANS
(12A) 151mins
★★★★☆
A FILM about falling in love with movies as a child is likely to be a hit with someone who also fell in love with movies as a child.
But this labour of love from multi-award-winning director Steven Spielberg is more than just a misty-eyed look back at the big screen of old.
It tells the fascinating — albeit fictionalised — story of his childhood and is an unflinching look at his parents’ marriage and the reason for its demise.
Spielberg waited until his parents’ death before bringing their story to the cameras.
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Wonder to behold
The film follows Sammy (Gabriel LaBelle) who is infatuated with moving pictures after his mum Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and dad Burt (Paul Dano) take him to a packed cinema to see Cecil B. DeMille’s circus picture, The Greatest Show On Earth.
Sammy falls in love with the train crash scene and is soon recreating it with his own toy train set.
Both parents embrace their boy’s love of making films — with his genius, mathematical father focusing on the pragmatic side and his kooky, piano-playing mother embracing the creative.
She whispers to her young son: “Movies are dreams that you never forget.”
The Orthodox Jewish family, including Sammy’s three sisters and, somewhat strangely, Burt’s best friend Bennie (Seth Rogen), are shipped to live in various states around the country to follow Burt’s job.
Sammy finds this tough, but also realises that being behind the camera opens up a world of friend-making opportunities.
But his religion makes him stick out and he is bullied at high school.
The close family unit becomes rocky when Sammy, through his camera lens, realises his mother is in love with Bennie. He makes her laugh and embraces her creativity.
Mitzi and Burt’s eventual split devastates the family — something that happened in Spielberg’s life. Like many of his films, it is shown through the uncomplicated and more innocent eyes of a child, making it all the more powerful.
All the performances are faultless, but Williams as the vibrant, spontaneous and often manic Mitzi is a wonder to behold.
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It’s a joy to see the master of film back on the big screen, where he was, clearly, born to be.
PLANE
(15) 107mins
★★★☆☆
IF there is one thing you can trust Gerard Butler to do it’s to deliver a blockbuster every few years that is high on action but low on narrative depth.
Plane is no different, but an enjoyable ride.
Butler brings his Scottish charm to Captain Brodie Torrance, a widowed pilot who just wants to get back home to his daughter for New Year.
Unfortunately, a lightning strike forces him to crash-land his plane on a remote island of the Philippines which just so happens to be ruled by a separatist militia known for holding foreign nationals hostage.
Two-dimensional supporting characters and iffy racial depictions of anti-government antagonists aside, director Jean-François Richet maintains a nervy and gritty tone throughout. Even with some cheesy dialogue, Butler’s everyman sensibility has you rooting for his earnest efforts.
Claustrophobic handheld camerawork ramps up brutal close-combat fights and helps to hit some interesting emotional notes.
Plane does not reinvent the wheel but does land an action-movie punch.
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED
(18) 117mins
★★★★☆
THE world needs people like Nan Goldin.
Not only is she an acclaimed photographer, she takes on one of the world’s most powerful families – and wins.
This docu looks at her life and her campaign to expose the Sackler family involved in Purdue Pharma, makers of painkiller OxyContin which is as addictive as heroin.
More than 500,000 Americans have now died from addiction to the drug and Goldin was nearly one of them. Within a day of being prescribed it, she says, she was deeply addicted.
She formed campaign group P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) with other victims and her goal is to remove the Sackler name from galleries around the world they fund.
The movie also looks at Goldin’s life and work. There was a family tragedy when her older sister committed suicide as a teenager. Nan’s life after her sister’s death was chaotic and nomadic and she was embraced by the outcasts, who she then photographed.
Her work is quite simply mesmerising and shows that art can, quite literally, change the world.
