Music-infused 'Morris' a winning coming-of-age celebration
The joys of the humanistic, coming-of-age comic drama "Morris From America" include well-rounded characters suggesting they possess lives beyond what we see, understated and honest performances, an aversion to clichés, plus a layered and realistic relationship between a teen named Morris and his widower dad Curtis.
Mostly, the winning "Morris From America" will be remembered for Curtis' sweet and thoughtfully cogent soliloquy on fatherhood delivered while driving his son along a highway in Germany.
"So I'm not grounded?" Morris asks, hoping to catch Dad in a vulnerable moment of parental pity.
"Oh, no," Dad replies. "You are grounded like a (expletive deleted)!" And for good reasons.
Dad, played by Chicago actor and "The Office" star Craig Robinson, moved to Heidelberg, Germany, for a job after his wife died of cancer.
His 13-year-old son Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas, a silver screen natural) struggles to learn German from a bright and empathic tutor named Inka (Swiss actress Carla Juri).
Morris has a tough time socially at school. The white students keep him at arm's length. But he eventually connects with 15-year-old Katrin (Lina Keller), who invites him to a party, then humiliates him by shooting a squirt gun on the front of his trousers.
"Morris From America" comes from writer/director Chad Hartigan, most known for his critically praised second feature, 2013's "This Is Martin Bonner."
Hartigan drops us into Morris' fish-out-of-water experience as an African-American maneuvering around the minefields of German society and his own adolescence.
He wants to be a totally gangster rapper. But his early attempts reek of such puerile misogyny (" ... two at a time, all you can take for just $10.99!") that Curtis - instead of shaming Morris - challenges his son to be more original and use his own voice.
Morris' relationships supply the hinges on this unpretentious indie production, flooded with rap and EDI music. His playful banter with Inka and his wary, growing fascination with the confident Katrin fill out much of this movie.
But the story's dramatic and comic booster rockets come from the fresh and spontaneous father-son dynamic.
One minute, Curtis and Morris trade crude jokes and critical barbs about each other's rap styles. The next, they engage in serious discussions about the uncertainties and peculiarities of life.
"Go to your room," Dad says. "You're grounded."
"For what?" Morris asks.
"Because you like terrible music," Dad says.
It's too bad this movie didn't come out for Father's Day.
“Morris From America”
★ ★ ★
Starring: Craig Robinson, Markees Christmas, Lina Keller, Carla Juri
Directed by: Chad Hartigan
Other: An A24 release. Opening at the ArcLight Theater, Chicago. Rated R for drug use, language, nudity. 89 minutes