The Fabelmans

After decades of sprinkling complex parent/child dynamics into his films, Steven Spielberg officially delves deep into his own fraught youth with The Fabelmans, an entertaining and emotionally rich tale that only the director — with another assist from screenwriter Tony Kushner (Lincoln; West Side Story) — could tell.

The collaborators’ engrossing Portrait of the Artist as a Young Filmmaker might be construed as somewhat of an ego trip, essentially arguing that one of our greatest directors has been quite good at his craft for longer than us plebs might want to admit. But the creative team approaches this journey in such a relatable coming-of-age manner that one can’t help but get caught up in the experience and want to celebrate this generational talent to an even greater degree.

This overarching love of cinema is evident from the start as Mitzi (Michelle Williams, channeling Judy Garland) and Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano) prep their young son Sammy (Mateo Zoryan) for his first moviegoing experience. The boy’s obsession with recreating a particular scene from The Greatest Show on Earth with a train set and his father’s movie camera provides the first of many glimpses into the process, which only ramp up in his teenage years.

Marvelously portrayed by Gabriel LaBelle (The Predator), this slightly older Sammy provides an appealing vessel by which to view the art of DIY filmmaking and its plentiful problem-solving. These accessibly technical scenes also pair nicely with the growing pains experienced at his new Northern California high school, where he navigates anti-semitism from ignorant male classmates and the love of Monica (the hilarious Chloe East, The Wolf of Snow Hollow), a Jesus Freak with a thing for handsome Jewish men.

But The Fabelmans’ greatest accomplishment might be its ability to sustain interest in the marital drama between Sammy’s parents, despite being fairly transparent about the source of its friction. All of the above and more dovetail into a satisfying final stretch that includes several audience-winking moments and a cameo for the ages by one legendary filmmaker playing another.

The joys of making movies — and, more applicably, watching them — has rarely felt this genuine. That Spielberg is the one responsible for such bliss is both no surprise at all, and the latest evidence that the master is far from out of tricks.

Grade: A. Rated PG-13. Now playing at Carolina Cinemark and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Universal Pictures)