THE FABELMANS (Cert 12, 150 mins, Entertainment One, available from May 22 on Amazon/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from June 5 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £26.99/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray £34.99, Drama/Romance)
Starring: Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch, Julia Butters, Keeley Karsten, Sophia Kopera, Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord, Chloe East, Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley.
INSPIRED by the train crash sequence in The Greatest Show On Earth, teenager Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) answers his creative calling with a film camera gifted by his parents Burt (Paul Dano) and Mitzi (Michelle Williams).
Sammy's home movie of a family holiday with his three sisters Reggie (Julia Butters), Natalie (Keeley Karsten) and Lisa (Sophia Kopera) and their surrogate uncle Bennie (Seth Rogen) exposes deep fissures in grown-up relationships.
The fallout serves as a painful first lesson about the enduring power of cinema.
When Sammy tries to apologise, insisting he never intended to hurt anyone, Mitzi delivers perfect words of comfort: "Guilt is a wasted emotion."
The teenager applies that learning to woo his classmate Monica (Chloe East) and cleverly undermine the fraternal bond between antisemitic high school bullies Logan (Sam Rechner) and Chad (Oakes Fegley).
The Fabelmans is a bittersweet portrait of a post-war family in crisis and weaves together narrative threads from Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg's childhood and subsequent works of big screen fiction, including E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Saving Private Ryan.
Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter Tony Kushner polishes dramatic licence to a beguiling lustre, anchored by a mesmerising performance from Williams as an emotionally brittle free spirit who professes: "Movies are dreams that you never forget."
Spielberg never forgets his dreams here, working closely with regular collaborators, including Polish cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, editors Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar and composer John Williams, to reflect tenderly on his wonder years in 1950s New Jersey and Arizona.
RATING: 4/5
PLATONIC (10 episodes, starts streaming from May 24 exclusively on Apple TV+, Comedy/Drama/Romance)
GETTING by with a little help from your friends is harder than it looks in a 10-part comedy co-created and co-written by Nick Stoller and Francesca Delbanco.
The first three episodes of the half-hour series debut this week and subsequent instalments premiere on Wednesdays.
Sylvia (Rose Byrne) and Will (Seth Rogen) are former best friends who have drifted apart.
As they approach midlife, the duo enthusiastically reconnect and reignite a platonic bond that becomes all-consuming, destabilising everything they have worked hard to build during their hiatus from each other.
