Thoughts About The Fabelmans...

 _Really enjoyed this movie. Michelle Williams played all the notes in a character that could have ended up with one or two. You could really feel the ways that her sensitivity and artistic qualities make her both magical, and kind of a trial to grow up with, and also? While she is thwarted, both romantically and artistically(as who among us hasn't, on occasion,) but we don't get the simplistic sense that "just leaving" and finding  Benny or even taking a bigger leap to the concert stage is the biggest answer that will fix everything. Maybe trying to find a calm, steady partner like Mr. Fabelman was another early attempt to heal herself. maybe it even worked, for a little while. Can't believe there is so much to say about a woman in a Spielberg movie.  halfway wishing he'd collaborated more before this.

_I think that everyone in high school, even the ones that we think have it nailed, just wants to leave some  "family mishegoss" at home, whether we know to call it that or not(Which, I sort of did, because I found Philip Roth too young, but...I'm not getting into all that here.) I liked to think my disability belonged in the "Home" box and kind of didn't bleed into the "Away" box, but of course that was foolish.  In retrospect, some of my friendships then stopped when the bell rang, but I suppose that was good to find after the fact, instead of during.

"Phoenix is a really neat city." No, it really isn't.  You can tell because we still brag that Sammy Fabelman went to high school in Scottsdale, and that Bill and Ted shot our mall for San Dimas. I guess once making microchips wasn't  new, as it was for our grandparents(who also felt that they were fleeing old relationships and rituals that no longer suited them, perhaps) the bloom of promise has been off the place. Maybe it's because they didn't do a good job creating new traditions and left cultural gathering to the mall and multiplex, both of which have also fallen on hard times. Excellent Mexican food, though.

_I can tell that bodies make Spielberg uncomfortable in more than a "wow, that's a spicy meatball," sense because  young Fabelman's early "prayerful" makeout sessions were the only parts of this slightly-too-long movie where I got really restless.  Also, I really can't think of anything he's  made(though I'm sure I haven't seen it all) with a really great(or even kind of messed-up) romantic moment.