“Family. Art. Life. It will tear you in two.”
Susan Lacy’s 2017 documentary Spielberg chronicles the life and career of prolific filmmaker Steven Spielberg. The Emmy-nominated non-fiction work features appearances from Spielberg himself alongside his long-time collaborators, film contemporaries and family. In an interview with the late Leah Adler, the former pianist and Spielberg matriarch recalls a time that she brought home a monkey on a whim. Throughout the documentary, the Spielberg children share memories of their self-described “bohemian” upbringing with great fondness and melancholy.
The first trailer for The Fabelmans brings their fantastic stories to life in vivid color. Adorned in deep blue and golden hues, the trailer screens intimate moments of tenderness and discovery between the young Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) and his artistic mother Mitzi (four-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams). In quick succession, we bear witness to the director’s unconventional childhood through dazzling images of grand movie palaces, Super 8mm film and, of course, a wildly cute and destructive pet monkey.
Much like the way the Spielberg family described their youth in Spielberg, The Fabelmans trailer reveals itself through moments of profound beauty and sadness. The juxtaposition of the blue and gold palette mirrors the eclectic Fabelman clan and highlights the narrative conflict established in the trailer.
Take a look:
“In this family, it’s the scientist versus the artist,” Mitzi remarks in reference to Sammy’s successful, scientific father, Burt (Paul Dano). The passionate scenes swell to the nostalgic score of five-time Academy Award winner John Williams and the intensity of the music and images on-screen lets us know that we’re in for something magical. As far as the trailer indicates, The Fabelmans is a love letter to Adler and cinema crafted as a tale about the battle between dreams and duty, family and self, the mundane and the extraordinary.
The Fabelmans also stars Seth Rogen, Jeannie Berlin, Judd Hirsch and David Lynch. The film will arrive in theaters everywhere on November 24.