Ennis' Gift

Ennis' Gift, the latest offering from acclaimed local filmmaker Joshua Seftel (Lost and Found, Taking On the Kennedys), is not just a tribute to Bill Cosby's murdered son Ennis but a documentary that takes on the learning differences Ennis confronted during his tragically short life. Speaking in Ennis's stead are a variety of subjects who revisit their childhood traumas, disclosing the wounds and recounting their efforts to heal them. For some of these veterans of classroom cruelty, that early experience supplied a springboard to success -- whether the genius to design a successful bank or the gumption to cross the North Pole. Many are icons of their professions -- gold medalist Bruce Jenner, Henry "the Fonz" Winkler, abstract artist Robert Rauschenberg, fearsome actor (and former stutterer) James Earl Jones among them. Most accredit their accomplishment to a lifetime of feeling different, a challenge many now term their "gift."

They share one gift: the art of telling a good story. Seftel (who has struggled with learning differences himself) allows them to do so with little interruption -- focused intently on its feel-good message, his film consists mainly of talking heads and symbolic journeys down dark hallways, and at times it wraps up a complex issue too neatly. But if, like its subjects, Ennis' Gift has some problems with expression, it's still the thought that counts.

-- Rachael Innerarity