Editing History and a Zombie Gay fairytale

 All of us rewrite history 

Ask my ex mother in law that one, she was a friggin expert on the subject..anyway

Yesterday I went to see The Fabelmans which has been hailed as Spielberg’s oh so personal homage to cinema and his upbringing.

I enjoyed it , with reservations 

The reservations came from Spielberg’s need to re-edit and if not re write, reshoot those vital and cinematic moments that punctuate all of our lives when growing up.

As a small child we see Sam ( Steve) recreate the famous train crash from The Greatest Show On Earth as we are introduced to his Elf like mother Mitzi ( Michelle Williams) a former concert pianist who still protects her hands by not washing up a dish, and who chases a tornado with her children in the car. 

She is this ethereal character who despite being incredibly selfish, and at times depressed is shown, in a rather affectionate spotlight and centre stage. Sam’s father (Paul Dano) is benign and sweet as the man who finally accepts that his best friend Uncle Benny ( a restrained Seth Rogen) is the true love of Mitzi’s life.

It is clear that Spielberg’s childhood was unconventional to say the least, so it would be forgivable for the audience to accept how his love of cinema helped rewrite and certainly re-edit reality .

Labelle ( right)

The trouble with the whole film is that certain parts are simply not true. I listened to Lauren Lavern’s detailed interview with Spielberg on Desert Island Discs last year, where Spielberg admitted that he didn’t speak to his father for many years, a fact not even eluded to in the movie.

When a film makes the point of re-editing reality, does not the final version feel all a bit sanitised ? 

Perhaps that is what Spielberg was wanting to get across? 

It’s overlong by 30 minutes too 🥲

Having said all this Gabriel Labelle gave a gentle and intelligent performance as the 16 year old Spielberg  and Michele Williams was incredibly moving and restrained as the rather lost Mitzi.

Bill and Frank in The Last Of Us

The Last Of Us is now on episode three on Sky Atlantic 

This is a big budget, rather sprawling re working of a popular video game set in the zombie apocalypse where the undead sport feather like growths on their faces and where Joel ( Pedro Pascal) has to protect teenage Ellie ( Bella Ramsey) who is immune to the infection and who may be humanity’s only salvation .

It’s a bleak watch to be sure and until episode 3 ( shown last night) I wasn’t really happy with how things were going.

Last night the tables turned and we were introduced to two new characters Bill and Frank.( Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlet) 

Bill, is a survivalist, the only character to remain in his tiny town of just a few streets. He had amassed a stockpile of weapons, gasoline, food and know how to fortify his home but after years of solitude is lonely as he enjoys the finer things in life which he can’t share. In one of his traps he captures the middle aged, garrulous Frank, the only survivor from a group from the city and suddenly the bleak zombie drama takes a severe right hand turn into a gentle and thoughtful character study about the love affair between two middle aged men.

It was quite, quite charming and wonderfully played by both actors who really made you believe that such an unlikely pair could make a go of things.

Wonderful and incredibly moving television