Essen. “Ezra – A Family Story” tells of autism, fathers, sons and much more. Which is why it’s all a bit too much of a good thing.
Max is a moderately successful stand-up comedian. He dreams of appearing on cult presenter Jimmy Kimmel, but his life is all about his son Ezra, who is always with him. The boy is 11 and suffers from autism. Max wants him to have a normal life. When Ezra loses control in class, he is threatened with being transferred to a special school and the child is also expected to take strong medication. His father doesn’t want that. He puts Ezra in the car and flees.
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The beginning of a US road movie that leads from Michigan through Nebraska to Los Angeles and in which Robert De Niro once again takes on the role of a rustic pensioner with a heart and a sense of family. He plays grandfather Stan, who starts the pursuit with Ezra’s mother Jenna. Soon the FBI is on the heels of father and son.
“Ezra – A Family Story” in cinemas: Debut for William A. Fitzgerald
The film is directed by Tony Goldwyn, who is fighting on several entertainment fronts with “Ezra: A Family Story”. This is a father-son drama that spans three generations and tells of mistakes, but also of solidarity. It is a comedy about a strange clan that can argue wonderfully. But it is also a serious story about autism. As you can read in the program booklet, several crew members have experience. Screenwriter Tony Spiridakis is the father of an autistic son, as are Robert De Niro and producer William Horberg. And William A. Fitzgerald, who masters his first role as Ezra with the cute glasses and tousled hair with flying colors, also suffers from an autism spectrum disorder.
Bobby Cannavale (Max) and William A. Fitzgerald (Ezra) travel through the USA in “Ezra: A Family Story”. © Cara Howe | Cara Howe
And you can tell that the film is concerned. Autism is not a trick like in “Rain Man”; it is presented as a natural companion in life that constantly presents challenges to Ezra’s family and environment. The boy doesn’t like hugging other people, in fact he doesn’t want to be touched at all. He prefers to speak in film quotes, he can’t stand bananas. And when he uses metal cutlery he starts to scream because he’s afraid of the pain in his teeth. It’s only when he meets the girl Ruby on the way that he dares to do it and realises that this doesn’t apply if there’s ice cream on the spoon.
“Ezra: A Family Story” with Whoopi Goldberg and Bobby Cannavale
Goldwyn has brought in a number of stars, most notably Bobby Cannavale (“The Irishman”, “MaXXXine”), who can show his sensitive side as a father. This man needs his son more than the other way around, and when he sits on the bed and cries because he doesn’t know what to do, you want to give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Rose Byrne is convincing as the kind-hearted helicopter mother Jenna and the unflappable Whoopi Goldberg as Max’s manager Jane. Jimmy Kimmel gets to play himself. Even the director (himself an actor) can be seen – as Jenna’s new, somewhat joyless partner. And De Niro is a show in almost everything he does; here as the gruff “Grandpa” Stan, who has problems coming to terms with the past and has his own theories about his grandson’s condition: “Send him to the gym, he can let off steam there.”
A film that has an excellent cast, is at times really touching, but doesn’t really know what to focus on. In the end, the main focus is the family, which you have to accept as it is. But others have told stories about this in a more impressive and, above all, more succinct way.
