Decent doco about the famous filmmaker - it tells you a lot of stuff most filmmakers know (Jaws went over budget, critics don't like it when he goes serious, he's really talented) and has lots of famous talking heads say nice things (even Daniel Day Lewis). A few people criticise say The Color Purple for being too pretty and Empire of the Sun for being too sentimental. I don't think Always is mentioned at all (though I might've blinked and missed it).
The best thing about the movie is the home movie footage of Spielberg - growing up in Arizona, bossing his family around in plays; his mum having fun; palling it up with Brian De Palma and Scorsese and Amy Irving back in the day. I also really loved seeing footage of his parents and hearing how they got back together after their divorce.
Spielberg comes across as a very confident person who's had a lot of therapy - though he says he never needed therapy because he worked through his issues with his movies. He does feel like someone very in touch with himself - he's up front about his passions of the movies he saw as a kid, the movies that continue to inspire him; the things that affected him as a kid (being Jewish, his parents' divorce, his fascination for World War Two, his love of the underdog).
Obviously very confident from the get-go, someone who knew what he wanted to do. He's evolved as an artist from someone who loved fantasy so someone who now mostly goes to history for his canvas - so it's entirely appropriate the film begins and ends with a clip from Lawrence of Arabia.
The topic of Spielberg is so big and covers so many themes and the film was vaguely unsatisfying. I'm not sure how else you could've done it though - maybe just made it about him and his family? Maybe had it last for longer?
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