In a dramatic atmosphere, this movie, follows the struggles of Morris, a smart teenager boy, who moves to live in Germany with his father, where he falls for a beautiful but brat girl.
"Morris from America" feels thin at times. But at its best, its themes of growing up, culture gaps and the power of music take the specific and make them universal.
"Morris from America" is funny and unusual, and while it teases storytelling disaster as it unfolds, the production remains amusing and periodically genuine.
While "Morris From America" trundles along familiar tracks, Hartigan's eye for detail and individuality yields enough dividends to keep the film moving tartly and congenially along.
Morris ranks as one of the most indelible, endearing adolescents to hit the screen in a long time, a tough-minded philosopher gamely suffering the vicissitudes of loneliness and unrequited love.
The truehearted insights in Chad Hartigan's Sundance award-winner - about adolescence, about alienation, about parenting, about race - make it a must-see.
Morris from America isn't shy about rolling around in genre tropes - it manages to be a fish-out-of-water story, a coming-of-age story and a slice-of-life all at once - but it rarely comes across as false or forced.
While countless coming-of-age indies have followed the standard mold of following a new teen boy's first awkward steps ahead, writer/director Chad Hartigan's compassionate mix of charm, heartache and hip-hop ramps up this version handsomely.
