Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is an incredibly moving and joyous film, filled with so many delightful (and even magical) moments that show the marriage of technical craft and the more ephemeral artistry in filmmaking and the creative life – a dichotomy made concrete in the figures of the two parents. In this recent wave of filmmakers looking back over their childhoods to reflect on what made them the artists they are today; this is hands down one of the best memory films from the last few years. Spielberg truly understands how to fully tell this story from the child’s perspective, and he uses that to celebrate art and the power of cinema. This is filled with some of Spielberg’s most incredible images – the texture of the lighting and the precision of the framing illustrates why he continues to be a master of his craft. While most of the performers do solid, dependable work here, Michelle Williams’s performance comes across as too false and arch when compared to the rest of the cast. More subtleties and shades and nuances come out in the performance toward the back half of the film to make the performance richer – but the showy and performative nature of the role in the film’s early portions never allows it to fully integrate with the rest of the film. Still, this is an exceptional film that gets stronger as it goes on, exploring the dynamics of a broken family and delighting in the sometimes-uncontrollable impulse to create art.