Steven Spielberg is back but this time not with dinosaurs or with the most famous archaeology professor, but with a very personal story about family and films, The Fabelmans. Spielberg is one of the most celebrated filmmakers of all time, and he has introduced and also inspired many people into the world of cinema.
Starring Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, and Seth Rogen, Spielberg brings us a coming-of-age drama loosely based on Spielberg’s younger years. The Fabelmans follows Sammy Fabelman from the age of 18 as he falls in love with filmmaking and films but family dysfunction gets in the way of him fulfilling his dreams.
So, if you liked Spielberg’s latest masterpiece here are some more movies like The Fabelmans you should watch next:
Hugo (HBO Max)
Synopsis: Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Belfast (HBO Max)
Synopsis: Written and directed by Academy Award® nominee Kenneth Branagh, Belfast is a poignant story of love, laughter and loss in one boy’s childhood, amid the music and social tumult of the late 1960s. The cast stars Golden Globe® nominee Caitríona Balfe, Academy Award® winner Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, and introduces 10 year old Jude Hill. Dornan and Balfe play a passionate working-class couple caught up in the mayhem, with Dench and Hinds as sharp-witted grandparents.
Roma (Netflix)
Synopsis: The most personal project to date from Academy Award®-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men, Y Tu Mama Tambien), ROMA follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s.
Boyhood (AMC+ & Pluto TV)
Synopsis: Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, BOYHOOD charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay’s Yellow to Arcade Fire’s Deep Blue. BOYHOOD is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. It’s impossible to watch Mason and his family without thinking about our own journey.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Rent on Prime Video)
Synopsis: ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL is the story of Greg (Thomas Mann), a high school senior who is trying to blend in anonymously, avoiding deeper relationships as a survival strategy for navigating the social minefield that is teenage life. He even describes his constant companion Earl (RJ Cyler), with whom he makes short film parodies of classic movies, as more of a ‘co-worker’ than a best friend. But when Greg’s mom (Connie Britton) insists he spend time with Rachel (Olivia Cooke) – a girl in his class who has just been diagnosed with cancer – he slowly discovers how worthwhile the true bonds of friendship can be. The film is directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon with a screenplay by Jesse Andrews, based on his novel of the same name. The film also stars Nick Offerman, Molly Shannon, and Jon Bernthal. The film is produced by Steven Rales, Dan Fogelman and Jeremy Dawson. The filmmaking team includes director of photography Chung-hoon Chung, production designer Gerald Sullivan, set decorator Diana Stoughton, editor David Trachtenberg, and costume designer Jennifer Eve.
Moonrise Kingdom (Rent on Prime Video & Apple TV)
Synopsis: Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore – and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in every which way. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff, Captain Sharp. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader, Scout Master Ward. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban; and introduces Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as Sam and Suzy, the boy and girl.
Matinee (Rent on Prime Video & Apple TV)
Synopsis: Step back into a time of outrageous movie-theater gimmicks and larger-than-life B-screen stars in this charming homage to the great sci-fi and horror flicks of the 1950s and 1960s. John Goodman is at his uproarious best as the William Castle-inspired movie promoter Lawrence Woolsey, who brings his unique brand of flashy showmanship to the unsuspecting residents of Key West, Florida. It’s 1962, and fifteen-year-old fan Gene Loomis (Simon Fenton), can’t wait for the arrival of Woolsey, who is in town to promote his latest offering of atomic power gone berserk, MANT!. But the absurd vision of Woolsey’s tale takes on a sudden urgency as the Cuban Missile Crisis places the real threat of atomic horror just 90 miles off the coast. With the help of Gene and Woolsey’s leading lady, Ruth (Cathy Moriarty), the master showman gives Key West a premiere they’ll never forget. Anything can happen in the movies, and everything does in this hilarious tribute to a more innocent (and outrageous) time in American cinema.
Licorice Pizza (Paramount+ & Prime Video)
Synopsis: “Licorice Pizza” is the story of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) and Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) growing up, running around and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973. Written and Directed by heralded filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, this potent coming-of-age drama tracks the treacherous navigation of first love. Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Tom Waits and Benny Safdi also star.
Cinema Paradiso (Rent on Prime Video & Apple TV)
Synopsis: Cinema Paradiso is the beautiful, enchanting story of a young boy’s lifelong love affair with the movies. Set in an Italian village, Salvatore finds himself enchanted by the flickering images at the Cinema Paradiso, yearning for the secret of the cinema’s magic. When the projectionist, Alfredo, agrees to reveal the mysteries of moviemaking, a deep friendship is born. The day comes for Salvatore to leave the village and pursue his dream of making movies of his own. Thirty years later he receives a message that beckons him back home to a secret and beautiful discovery that awaits him.
The Last Film Show (Netflix)
Synopsis: India’s official entry to the 2023 Academy Awards, Last Film Show (Chhello Show) is set at the cusp of the digital revolution and follows Samay, a nine-year-old boy ensnared by the magic and science of light and shadow that lies behind celluloid film projection. Manoeuvring through both social pressures and economic precarity, he pursues his passion for the “film show” with single-minded devotion, oblivious to the technological upheaval that is hurtling towards him.
