“The Fabelmans” focuses on Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), an avatar for Spielberg. Sammy is a budding filmmaker who grows obsessed with making his own movies, all while the marriage of his parents (played by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano) crumbles. The film is essentially a cinematic therapy session for Spielberg — his parents’ divorce has long been an influence on his work, and with “The Fabelmans,” he gets to tackle it head-on. While the movie is frequently loaded with dramatic, somber moments, and there’s an underlying message that devoting your life to art can leave you ultimately lonely and isolated, “The Fabelmans” is also a warm, funny movie. And the warmest, funniest scene arrives at the end. As the movie nears its conclusion, Sammy is considering dropping out of college. He badly wants to be a filmmaker but is struggling to break into the biz. He gets a life preserver of sorts when he lands an interview to work on the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes.”
During the course of the interview, Sammy makes it clear that movies are where his heart lies, not TV. The series co-creator is receptive to this, and points out that he shares office space with a legendary filmmaker. Would Sammy like to meet him? Sammy says yes, of course. We quickly learn that the filmmaker is none other than John Ford, and while Sammy waits nervously in Ford’s office, Ford eventually barges in. Because Ford is played by David Lynch, the role immediately carries a kind of weight. Here is a legendary filmmaker playing a legendary filmmaker. Sporting an eye patch and chomping on a cigar, Ford drolly observes that he’s heard Sammy wants to “make pictures.” He then asks Sammy what he knows about filmmaking — a question that understandably makes Sammy nervous. Ford, ever the director, gives Sammy a task: he asks him to walk over to a traditional Western-style painting on the wall and tell Ford what he says.
Sammy stammers his way through trying to describe what he glimpses in the painting. Ford, immediately annoyed, tells him that’s not what he wants. “No, No,” Lynch-as-Ford says, then asks: “Where’s the horizon?” Lynch puts the perfect amount of inflection on the question, making it sound both simple and loaded. Sammy, confused, responds that the horizon in the painting is at the bottom. Ford directs him over to another painting. Once again, Sammy awkwardly tries to describe what he’s seeing, but again, Ford makes it clear he just wants to know where the horizon is. In the painting, it’s at the top. Satisfied, Lynch’s Ford is finally ready to impart some wisdom. “Now remember this,” he says, “When the horizon’s at the bottom, it’s interesting. When the horizon’s at the top, it’s interesting. When the horizon’s in the middle, it’s boring as s***. Now, good luck to you. And get the f*** out of my office!”
