There’s a key scene within Sean Durkin’s latest film, The Iron Claw, that lays out the entire bond of the Von Erich family: the father offers a firm but distanced handshake, the mother gives a short but sweet embrace, and the brothers embrace each other in a loving group-hug. While the parents are present, the true familial support and love come from the fraternal bond of the Von Erich brothers. When there’s a problem in the family, the parents tell the sons to sort things out amongst themselves, opting for a hands-off approach to parenting that allows for no tenderness. Whether it be the shelf of handguns the patriarch, Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany), keeps or the career path he wants for his sons, the Von Erich family is rooted in violence and high expectations. In rudimentary terms, The Iron Claw is a biopic about the Von Erich family. Upon taking a closer look, Durkin’s film is a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the dangers of pressure and the tragic truth of fathers living vicariously through their sons.

The film opens with a black-and-white prologue, with Fritz Von Erich performing his famous move, the Iron Claw, on an opponent in the ring. Upon winning, he tells his sons that if they were the toughest, strongest, and most successful, then nothing would ever hurt them. This is the first instance of what is known as the “Von Erich Curse,” which, while attributed to what the rest of the family considers to be unknown streaks of bad luck, it is evident that the Von Erich curse is the pressure Fritz Von Erich applies to his children. “You feel that? That’s pressure,” Fritz says to his son David (Harris Dickinson), as he pushes his son down with his signature move. The pressure Fritz applies to the rest of his sons is felt throughout the entire film, as he vocally picks favorites among his sons, right in front of their faces. The expectations Fritz sets are so high that his sons must be superhuman to attain them. In the sporting world, a father living vicariously through his son is not uncommon, and Holt McCallany’s Fritz Von Erich is the personification of the concept. He never won a heavyweight championship belt in his time, so he now makes it his goal for his sons to win it for him.

On the topic of the Von Erich sons, the performances of Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White, and Stanley Simons are as lovable as they are tragic. Efron takes the spotlight as the oldest brother Kevin, who is the focal character within the film. Efron’s performance is simultaneously raw and restrained, as his father says that crying isn’t something that real men do. To be the real man that his father desperately wants to mold, Kevin sacrifices every piece of himself, only to be overshadowed by his father’s ever-changing ranking of who his favorite son is. The film begins with Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) being his favorite, for no reason other than his status as a future Olympian. When the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics are canceled due to rising tensions in the Cold War, Fritz sees this as another instance of the Von Erich curse, not knowing that he is the direct cause of the curse’s perpetuity. 

Those familiar with the Von Erichs’ story are privy to the foreshadowing Durkin litters throughout the film, and those who are not familiar with their story are thrown into a tragic chain of one cataclysm after the next. Despite being attributed to a mystical familial curse, all of the tragedy in The Iron Claw can be traced back to Fritz, as his constant pressure on his sons is what eventually leads to heartbreak and catastrophe. Believing he is cursed, Fritz believes the world owes him something, so he pushes and pushes until the floor caves beneath him, not knowing that he, himself, is the curse. The fear of the curse then falls upon Kevin’s shoulders, who is given the dual responsibility of saving his family and breaking the curse. 

Efron’s performance as Kevin Von Erich is by far the best performance of his career, adding so much necessary gravity to the Von Erich story, as well as serving as its emotional core. While the sprawling story of the Von Erichs continues far after the film ends, the film finds a beautiful conclusion to Kevin’s story, accompanied by a tear-jerking finale that strums the heartstrings like Michael Von Erich on his guitar. The last twenty minutes of this movie are what truly make it so special, and elevate it far beyond the traditional sports film or biopic. Durkin’s love for these brothers is evident through and through, and the emotional punches he packs into The Iron Claw are as significant as they are devastating.

From a directorial standpoint, Durkin tries nothing fancy, opting for static long takes that give a real feeling of being a fly on the wall in this era. Without fancy camera movements or editing tricks, Durkin’s restraint behind the camera grants his actors an immense amount of breathing room, while finding the best possible angle or camera position to capture every waking moment. The wrestling sequences are raw and electrifying, as the actors fly around from one end of the screen to the other in muscular displays of athleticism. Durkin’s camerawork doesn’t reinvent the wheel because it doesn’t have to, the story speaks for itself. 

Between Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, A24 has been breaking new ground with biopics this year, with each one having its own artistic flair and style. Out of these three distinctly different biopics, The Iron Claw might just be the best of the bunch, if not the best film from the studio this year.