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_EZRA_ Audiences adore _Ezra_, even if the critics were more skeptical. The contemporary family dramedy is the story of an autistic boy, Ezra (newcomer William A. Fitzgerald). He’s

surrounded by love — from his devoted stand-up comedian father Max (a memorable Bobby Cannavale, 54), his irascible grandfather, Stan (an affecting Robert DeNiro, 80) and his divorced

mother, Jenna (Rose Byrne). Caring for Ezra takes a village and a lot of patience, often forcing his family members out of their comfort zones as they navigate the challenges and pleasures

of raising a neurodivergent child. If anything, it’s a coming of age for Max, an arrested development case who faces his own challenging relationship with his father and his split from his

wife, while accepting his roles of advocate and adult-in-the-room for his son — and trying to achieve a comedy comeback. The well-made, well-acted, heartfelt movie is one that has the

audience laughing and crying, sometimes simultaneously. Rated R. [embedded content] _TÓTEM_ The Mexican entry for Best International Feature Film and festival favorite is one of those

movies that allows audiences to experience an entire lifetime in one sitting. Over the course of a single day, a large, extended family prepares for a birthday party for the beloved eldest

son, Tonatiuh (Mateo Garcia). As his father crabs, his sisters fuss, and his daughter runs in and out of the family villa with excitement, we gradually learn that the young and handsome

artist has terminal cancer. This may be his last birthday, and while this heavy emotion overlays the fiesta and its preparation, the well-drawn characters come together to fete his short

life while he can still enjoy the celebration. Few movies capture the joy, the sorrow and the short sweetness of life with the warm-hearted wisdom of _Tótem_. Rated NR. [embedded content]

_THE PROMISED LAND_ Overlooked by last year’s Best Foreign Language Film nominations, the sweeping Danish period drama is a showcase for actor Mads Mikkelsen, 58. Resembling an American

Western with a strong silent hero in the Gary Cooper mold, it follows Mikkelsen’s low-born war veteran Ludvig Kahlen as he tries to claim and cultivate his veteran’s land grant, his promised

land, during peacetime. However, there’s another war on the horizon: that with a local aristocrat and land baron who’d rather grind von Kahlen down than let him flourish. It’s a story

that’s both rugged and romantic, with a peak Mikkelsen performance, about how sometimes we’re better off not chasing our dreams when unexpected opportunities present themselves. Rated R.

[embedded content] _THE TASTE OF THINGS_ Juliette Binoche, 60, is having a moment. The chic international star (currently also playing designing woman Coco Chanel on TV’s _The New Look)_ is

absolutely delicious as Eugénie , a sensual cook preparing exquisite food and sleeping with the gourmet chef Dodin (Benoît Magimel, 50, the actress’s ex). Eugénie’s every movement in the

kitchen is graceful and assured, and she cooks in the bedroom, too, in a no-strings-attached long-term liaison. This culinary movie that moves at its own pleasurable pace — no rushed dinner

this — rivals the famous _Babette’s Feast_. Here, the joy of cooking meets the pleasure of intimacy in a mouth-watering, at times melancholy, celebration of French food preparation and

consumption. Rated PG-13.