Morris from America
Directed by: Chad Hartigan
Written by: Chad Hartigan
Starring: Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Carla Juni, Lina Keller, Levin Henning
Comedy/Drama/Romance - 91 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 25 Aug 2016
Written by: Chad Hartigan
Starring: Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Carla Juni, Lina Keller, Levin Henning
Comedy/Drama/Romance - 91 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 25 Aug 2016
I don’t have one yet, but connecting with your 13 year-old child over anything appears to be a challenge. There are plenty of films out there dissecting the divide over pubescent teens and their folks but one way to break the ice is music; learn about and act interested in what the kids are listening to these days. You can even play what you were into back in the day. Just don’t criticize their taste. Curtis Gentry (Craig Robinson, Hot Tub Time Machine 2) was so close. He had on his old school hip-hop and then took a tangent explaining why it is superior to the garbage of today.
Of course we think the music we listened to as teens is better than what our kids are swilling down today; every generation thinks that way. In this case, old school hip-hop is far more preferable to contemporary auto-tuned synthy bilge. Want to lose your momentum? Go ahead and tell your 13 year-old that. Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas) doesn’t want to be told his choice in tunes is terrible, because pulling back a bit after this musical intro, Morris doesn’t even want to live where his dad just took him to, Heidelberg, Germany.
Of course we think the music we listened to as teens is better than what our kids are swilling down today; every generation thinks that way. In this case, old school hip-hop is far more preferable to contemporary auto-tuned synthy bilge. Want to lose your momentum? Go ahead and tell your 13 year-old that. Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas) doesn’t want to be told his choice in tunes is terrible, because pulling back a bit after this musical intro, Morris doesn’t even want to live where his dad just took him to, Heidelberg, Germany.
It’s not culture shock; Morris realizes where he is and can even get around town on the bus. It’s culture frustration and annoyance. Half-heartedly paying attention to his German tutor, Inka (Carla Juri), Morris immediately dreads the forced mechanism Inka uses to try and locate him some friends, the youth center. Writer/director Chad Hartigan shows us a real boy striving toward manhood though. Morris is no saint; he’s not peculiarly precocious and he’s not overtly adept at any skill. He also lacks the necessary social skills to integrate into the local German teen cliques, deliberately ignoring a boy trying to recruit him for basketball.
These cold shoulder tendencies isolate Morris, set him up as a bully target, and enforce stereotypes. Calling him Kobe Bryant when they first see him, the kids change to MC Big Mac when Morris says he’s into rap referencing his as yet unproven braggadocio and his larger physique. Further befuddling poor Morris is Katrin (Lina Keller). She seems intrigued Morris, is considered cool because she smokes and hangs out with older guys, and most likely knowingly cultivates Morris’s lustful interest.
Morris from America is the first real acting job for Markees Christmas. Chad Hartigan found him on YouTube in some silly videos. Markees is notable for not over-acting and for a rookie in such a large, title role, he is mostly believable. The more intriguing transformation is Craig Robinson, known for his comedy chops from The Office and Hot Tub Time Machine movies. Earning a Special Jury award for acting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, his role as Curtis the dad is not as dramatic as the accolade and notice make it sound, but it’s not one-liners and reaction shots either.
Chad Hartigan grew up in Cyprus making Morris from America a somewhat autobiographical tale with just about everything altered other than the fish out of water / coming of age experience in a foreign land. American teenage coming of age movies are frequently slapstick farce and over-the-top gross-out affairs. European coming of age films, think Blue is the Warmest Color and Breathe, are far more realistic and full of all the awkward pauses and stutter-stepped moments you wish you could do over.
If Morris was in America, he would most likely be thrust into some rap battle, show up his tormentors, and have to choose between two gorgeous girls. In Heidelberg, Morris can’t buy attention from the ladies or from rap. Relating to his son through hip-hop is a shrewd move for Curtis and it bisects Morris from America in two. The film works much better when it’s dad and son trying to figure each other out. It slows down a bit into episodic fare when it’s Morris trying to impress Katrin or include himself at a local party. Feeling like an other is an experience everyone in the audience will relate to; we were all 13 once. Morris may remind you of your own confusing roller coaster ride, but at least he has Craig Robinson to explain why ‘90s jams outpace today’s rip-offs.
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