"The Fabelmans" is the story of how a movie-crazy kid turned that need into a career, and a life. It is, of course, inspired by Spielberg’s own child- and young adulthood, following the broad strokes of his early years and the beginnings of his obsession; he co-wrote the screenplay with his frequent collaborator Tony Kushner, his first such credit since "AI: Artificial Intelligence" (and before that, "Poltergeist"). So it’s obviously very personal to him, and that sense of genuine emotion, of pathos via memoir, is beating under every scene.

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