Film reviews: The Fabelmans, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

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According to the blurb on the poster, above a quote proclaiming this as "a masterpiece," there is a statement attributed to Rolling Stone that it's: "The movie we've been waiting 45 years for Steven Spielberg to make."

Really? In 1977, we stepped out into the daylight after the dazzling secular epiphany of Close Encounters and said to ourselves, 'yeah well this and that shark movie were pretty good, but what I really want to see him make is a film about his childhood in suburbia, his parents' divorce and how he developed a passion for moviemaking. Indy, ET, Schindler, Ryan and Jurassic can hold'.

Somewhere in the 21st century, Spielberg lost his essence; not the talent, but definitely the vim and vigour. He was always the best at starting a movie, grabbing his audience instantly and plugging them into his vision. But after skipping any opening credits, The Fabelmans amble onto the screen without any fanfare, just going about their business.

There are big themes addressed here: about the price of pursuing your art; the purpose and distortions of cinema; the imbalance of relationships.

Mother Mitzi (Williams) is a talented concert pianist who has sidelined her talent to build a family with husband Burt (Dano) who is an electronics and computers whizz. With all the classical music and underlying dissatisfaction and frustration in a relationship between two people who care greatly for each other, there are times when you might think this is Spielberg’s Bergman film. It’s sombre and painful, but still bright and uplifting.

The Fabelmans is one of Spielberg's best pieces of filmmaking Spielberg in at least a decade. It's full of lovely little grace notes and clever bits of humour. There are good performances from a top cast, especially Dano. Labelle, playing the young Spielberg surrogate, has a face that was born to play Yossarian.

And it does have a sublime ending featuring a Surprise Cameo that I won't spoil for you. But for all its qualities, am I allowed to say I just really couldn’t care less? Spielberg's been making, or getting other people to mak, films about his childhood in suburbia for 45 years. Much shorter films and films that were fun.

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Gabriel Labelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch. Running time: 150 mins.

Nan Goldin in a bathroom with Bea Boston (Image: Praxis Films/HBO)All The Beauty and The Bloodshed (18)

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The Bloodshed is the US Opioid Epidemic that has led to approximately half a million Americans dying through overdoses caused by the aggressive push for doctors to overprescribe opioids, thus growing the wealth of big Pharma owners the Sackler Family.

The beauty might be the various artworks the Sacklers have bought and donated to museums and galleries around the world. Or, perhaps, the work of American photographer/artist Nan Goldin who has spearheaded the protest movement aimed at getting the art world to stop taking their money and remove the Sackler name from galleries such as the Tate, National Portrait Gallery and The Met.

The epidemic, which is still taking the lives of thousands every year, is one of those silent scandals that drift under the radar. I barely knew about it so approaching this film I was all ears, keen to learn.

But to be honest, it doesn’t get that much of an airing. We see some protests at galleries like the Louvre and the Guggenheim and there's a broad strokes explanation of how it happened. Mostly though there is an in-depth telling of the Nan Goldin life story.

And it’s quite a life story. Growing up in a repressed suburban household, her beloved elder sister was institutionalised and eventually committed suicide, while Nan herself ran away from home and drifted through various subcultures before ending up in bohemian lower Manhattan documenting the various outsider groups through her art and photography.

Her story holds up a mirror to the many ways America avoids the truth about itself, but it takes up more than half of the running length. Apart from explaining why she would become a powerful voice in the protest – she became addicted to OxyContin; many of her pieces are exhibited in the institutions that took Sackler money – it is only partially linked to the opioid scandal.

Indeed the focus on Goldin may obscure the issue. Her art chronicles the people that American society excluded through sexuality or perceived deviancy; the Sacklers' opium-based painkiller OxyContin largely targets middle America, people unwittingly getting hooked on opiates prescribed for operations or pain management.

A couple of Sacklers appear on screen towards the end as caricature Roald Dahl villains. But surely the point the film should be making is that for them it doesn't matter if you are deviant or straight, outcast or solid citizen, everybody is fodder for their greed.

Directed by Laura Poitras. Featuring Nan Goldin, Patrick Radden Keefe, Megan Kapler and David Armstrong. Running time: 122 mins.

Go to http://www.halfmanhalfcritic.com/for a review of the Criterion Collection blu-ray release of Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.