I do not understand why this movie is getting such a low rating when it easily deserves more.

Usually when I watch a "coming of age" movie I immediately see what the outcome will be, they mostly go along the same line but with Morris from America I didn't get that. What I got was much better. Albeit some missing plot holes but nothing that hurt the over all story.

The movie gives you that coming of age story without the tacky, over played scenarios. Where those movies fail, this movie excels. I never got that feeling. The feeling of a fairy tale life for lack of a better term. It's funny, nostalgic, romantic, emotional, entertaining but over all, it feels REAL.

I have never seen Craig Robertson (Curtis) play this type of role and I am happy I did because he did very well, especially with a cast full of rookies. I hope to see more of this from him in the future. Markees Christmas was surprisingly good but I could not end this without saying something about Lina Keller and Carla Juri.. They both played their roles flawlessly and Keller's role was not an easy one.

Definitely give this a watch, it is obviously not of the same caliber as The Breakfast Club but it does entertain. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Just watched Morris from America even though it got a 5.6 on IMDb. I usually try and not watch movies below 6 as i end up getting disappointed, but Morris from America was different. It was surprisingly short and beautiful!

As the title says its about the romantic and coming-of-age misadventures of a 13-year-old African-American boy who moves to Germany with his dad and tries to fit in with the other German kids. He falls for a girl at a youth club and through her own growing up pangs encourages him to open up a little and share his rapping.

We've all had that one childhood crush that we fondly remember - puppy love! The director has beautifully narrated a story that captures the essence of growing up and not fitting in, our first crush and pains with our parents and their side of the story and made a pint size gem! So don't go by the rating and watch it when you have the time and want to remember that feeling of puppy love and not really fitting in!

This is not a film about race or racism. Could easily have been done with two white leads instead of black leads. It's a film about a 13 year old boy discovering sexuality and entering an adult world by way of a love interest, as well as how his father deals with this without his wife. Great acting by them both and the lead female. Subtle but not overly complex screen play. Interesting and not trying to be over emotional. Not a superb film but worth watching. I really liked the way they portrayed the father's efforts to do well by his son and manage his adherent behaviour without alienating him. Son was also not reckless but simply unaware of the world he was growing into.

The vile and demeaning review from Sven B. prompted me to write my first review at IMDb. This is in now way an accurate portrayal of German society and as a German citizen I am quite appalled that the production is apparently almost completely German-based. Talk about shooting yourself in the head :) (Mild spoilers ahead) They have chosen the most stereotypical actors you could imagine playing a 'snitching', self-absorbed female tutor, a male teacher who doesn't know the first thing about respect or empathy as well as an ultra-mean girl, who loves nothing more than to play games with people and not the good ones. She gains a little more character towards the end although it doesn't help much. If you have never been here you can really get the impression from this movie that all Germans are Nazis with a big stick up their ass. And that may be true for ignorant folks in the Sächsische Wald or elsewhere who never met a foreigner or experienced something different beyond the scope of their own village or for people who are simply nihilistic and irredeemable. But I would like to believe and I have seen it often that there are a lot of Germans out there who appreciate the togetherness of different cultures although it's yet far from the melting pot story in the US, which is also not without its problems. So I guess my point is, this movie just shows that the world is full of mean people at every corner but Germany shares this with I guess almost any place in the world by now.

Really lovely film about growing up, feeling different, parenting and American vs. world culture. Spot on performances from Robinson and Christmas.

It might be misogynist and construed as anti-European, but I thought of it more from Morris's perspective. He's young and confused, so why not depict the world as a hostile place. It shows Germans being strangely ignorant, fetishizing Black people and being rude, so.. this isn't a movie for Germans. ..Should have at least had the tutor be a German.. But it's a great movie about a young American.

Killer soundtrack, visually on point, strong leads. My apologies to Germany, but I loved it.

I am beyond baffled at this nonsensical 6 rating. wtf?? This is genius. This is cultures clashing, this is the study of sexism/racism/coming of age/culture is not your friend having it's DAY. this is gorgeous. It's like the realest episode of Skins (UK) ever. honestly just the scene where the kid makes a fake girlfriend and dances with it and humps it is absolutely NECESSARY and so cinematic it reminded me of when I used to make sweet love to my stuffed monkey Gargantua, which is the stuffed animal my grandma gave me before I was even born. This film is truth. This film is straight and gorgeous and it won me over in the first 3 minutes because that is exactly how I would parent. And I'm a 43 year old single, childless white woman. I love this film, this film is everything. Haters can suck it.

Morris from America is a coming of age story of a black kid growing up in Germany, what part, honestly I forgot (my German doesn't exist). The movie was great. It's a coming of age story and who doesn't like that. I liked how Morris is constantly trying to find his footing in Germany. He's angry but he still find a small glimpse of hope in his new found friend, Katrin. Katrin is what I'm guessing is a typical German teenage girl. She hates her mom, does what she isn't supposed and has a strange thing for Morris. By no means is this a love story. If anything it was a cautionary tale of what unrequited love can do to someone. All in all it was a decent move and worth the watch.

You might remember Chris Hartigan from his second feature a few years ago, This is Martin Bonner, an offbeat indie about a volunteer counselor for a Christian-based group who has a mentoring program to rehabilitate convicts. And now Hartigan has a new offbeat film on the unusual topic of an African-American father and teenage son, living in Heidelberg, Germany.

Kudos to Hartigan for coming up a setting that we rarely get to see— i.e., African-Americans interacting with foreigners. The protagonist is Morris Gentry, the teenage son of Curtis Gentry, a coach employed by a German soccer team.

Most critics agree that the talented comedian, Craig Robinson, steals the show as Morris' father, who tries to be a good parent to his rebellious son, played by Markees Christmas. Curtis' life is made much more difficult by the lack of presence of his wife, who passed away before father and son find themselves on foreign soil. Curtis is asked to perform a balancing act with Morris, unsure as to how much discipline he should dole out. He is overprotective precisely because of both of their vulnerable positions as African-Americans—veritable strangers in a strange land. The main point is that this is a father who cares about his son and Robinson does a great job conveying his commitment and sensitivity.

While Morris is the victim of racial stereotyping by a coterie of obnoxious German teens who hang out at a local cultural center (they disparagingly refer to Morris as "Kobe Bryant" before they discover he's not a basketball player), Morris wins few points also with his surly disposition. The coming of age plot feels familiar after Morris falls for a slightly older German girl, Karin, another rebellious teenager who also has stereotyped impressions of black people—she dubs Morris a "gangsta-rapper" and eventually dumps him for a German boy who rides a motorcycle.

Most of the German kids here don't come off well at all and only Morris' tutor, Inka, provides a positive role model for the beleaguered teenager. While I appreciated Hartigan's positive focus on the father- son bonding, Markees Chirstmas is saddled with a character that lacks the requisite charm. In the end, Hartigan's plot of a teenager's lesson learned isn't enough to compensate for all of Craig Robinson's good work as the supportive parent.

Morris from America is about a black kid from the states trying to survive in Germany after the death of his Mom and forced to live with his Dad who coaches football in the country.

Although living with Craig Robinson as your dad was made to be a joyous experience. Mr. Robinson was a great supporting actor for this movie. He comes on the scene and shares time with this new kid in the acting scene,Markees Christmas and the chemistry of father and son between them sparks magnificently. Such a touching relationship between father and son put on camera. You could tell that from the moment these two come on the screen in the first scene and Robinson tries to convince his son that his Old School Hip Hop was the joint, It set the tone for what I knew was going to be a humorous and touching connection.

The adventures of Morris from America follows Morris as he attempts to learn the language and learn the culture of Germany. It's a hard task with Morris missing his home and his mom and having to deal with the stereotypes place upon him for being an African American.

In a sub plot that reminds me of Melvin Van Peoples' The Story of A Three Day Pass, Morris develops a crush on an older hot blonde whose giving him mixed signals.

Lucky for him, he has the love and support from his father and his German language tutor, both looking out for his best interest.

Morris From America is one of the best movies about growing up there ever was, using an extreme metaphor of a kid alone in a land of a different language to relate to all of us.

http://cinemagardens.com

The story is okay, I liked it but the ending terribly sucked. The ending, was not even an ending... Maybe its an episode.. Haha, I don't know...

The movie story gets you interested at first and at the end it gets you even more interested on whats going to happen next and THE END. It was so disappointing.

Even it was an episode (tv-series) I would not look at the second part of this movie. If anyone else pays for it... Its a waste of money. I never have done a review on a movie before but I felt so bad about that wasted hour of my life I just had to do it. Im sorry for being so harsh on my first review.

I admittedly loved this mostly for the use of German and the German feel, as I used to live as an expat in Germany, and my daughter was young there.

I enjoyed the father-son relationship and seeing the boy struggle with who he was and how he felt about the girl.

Review: I quite enjoyed this simple but entertaining movie, which is based on an American thirteen year old, Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas), who lives with his single dad, Curtis (Craig Robinson), in Germany, after losing his mum. With his dad teaching football, Morris is taught German on a daily basis, and his tutor recommends a summer school, so he can meet other teenagers and make some friends. Although he is the only black student in the school, he soon becomes friends with a young girl called Katrin, (Lina Keller), who leads him up the wrong path, and has a boyfriend. He teaches her about rap music, and she takes him to some wild parties, behind his dad's back. Katrin then pushes him to rap at a talent competition, and his adult language gets Morris kicked out of the school. With his dad away, Morris goes to another wild party with Katrin and a few of her friends, and after an alteration with her boyfriend, he becomes stranded in the middle of nowhere, so he calls his tutor for help, who calls his dad against his wishes. Its quite a simple tale but it's one that every teenager can relate to. The acting is pretty average from the whole cast but the relationship between Curtis and Morris is quite sweet, even though Morris finds it hard to be honest, because of his love for Katrin. Its not the type of movie that will become a worldwide hit but it's a good insight into how difficult it is, for different cultures to mix. Average!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Chad Hartigan, 35, who also brought you All The Stage Is A World, Date and This Is Martin Bonner. I personally haven't heard of them films before, so this is the first movie that I have seen from this director. He certainly got the most out of Markees, in his first feature film, and he showed a different side to Craig Robinson, who is known for his comedic roles but the film is pretty small in scale and it didn't get wide distribution. Its a shame that this movie will go under the radar because I have seen worse, in this genre.

Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $100,000 (Terrible)

I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/romance/dramas, starring Craig Robinson, Markees Christmas, Carla Juri, Patrick Guldenberg and Lina Keller. 5/10

Curtis (Craig Robinson) is a football (soccer) coach in Germany. His wife is gone and he is a single parent trying to raise 13 year old Morris (Markees Christmas). Morris has a private tutor (Carla Juri) and is crushing on a 15 year old girl he met at the teen activity center. However Katrin (Lina Keller) is being his friend part time, as she still wants to maintain her social standing with her own group, less accepting of Morris.

This is a coming of age drama. I was expecting a cultural difference, stranger in a strange land type of comedy and it wasn't there. It was closer to a tragedy with Curtis not getting father of the year award. Morris has a potty mouth, and I am not sure how a 13 year old singing X-rated rap lyrics and rather poorly, is entertaining. Morris is willing to be emotionally abused, just to be near Katrin. What was their target audience? Guide: F-word. No sex. Magazine nudity.

If those of you that reads the review are like me, and wish to see a semi-realistic good feel coming of age movie, then this one is probably not what you're looking for.

Morris from America is a original concept but a wasted potential. It is quite similar to the recent year "realistic dramas" which I've grown tired of. I watch movies to escape reality, not to re-live my own life. Not that I'm a African American living in Germany, but the "nothing special happens" is what most of us have in real life, and that's why we enjoy watching movies that has elements of "unrealistic situations" in it.

This movie is just a flat take on youth. The characters are shallow, and predictable. The acting is overall decent, but not anything special. Save yourself the time, and continue looking for a good- feel movie. Because this wont give you that.

Funny enough, but ever since my success with my review of the highly stylized and powerful street-drama Kicks, it seems that I have become the unofficial urban/hip-hop critic of the city of Toronto. Which isn't a bad thing, especially when you are reviewing some kick ass, cutting edge coming-of-age stories.

Coming-of-age stories are a dime-a-dozen in independent American cinema, let alone for films that have been accepted in the official line-up of the Sundance Film Festival. I mean, Sundance, almost being the unofficial "coming-of-age" film festival, is not only known for its dedication and glorification of youthful coming-of-age stories, but also discovering new, almost obscure talent, both behind the scenes, and in front of the camera. If you don't believe me, think of Quvenzhané Wallis from Beasts of the Southern Wild, RJ Cyler in last year's Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Gabourey Sidibe in Precious and director Damien Chazelle to name a few. Luckily for us, Chad Hartigan's newest film, Morris From America is a very authentic tale of of an outsider of a very urban-contemporary America, growing up in the very proper and white-washed setting of Germany.

Morris From America begins with three of its most powerful characters; Markees Christmas playing the young Morris Gentry, Craig Robinson as his father, Curtis Gentry, and the powerful and overwhelming music of hip-hop. As Morris rocks his head to The Sun Rises in the East's (considered one of the quintessential hip-hop albums of all-time) track Come Clean by Jeru The Damaja, Morris complains to his father that the beat is a little slow, it lacks a hook and the song, overall, is very boring. Outraged with his son's taste in music, Curtis ground Morris for having poor taste in music. Our next shot of Mo in his room, is a tour poster of up and coming rapper from Los Angeles, Schoolboy Q, that hangs at the very centre of his room, showing Mo's love and appreciate for new age hip-hop. At this exact moment, it becomes quite clear and evident that Mo's analysis of his father's song is very much an analogy of Hartigan's newest film as well as a very clear clash of how the differences of opinions, experiences and tragedy affect two very formidable men following the tragedy of their lead female matriarch.

We never really find out what happens to Mo's mom throughout the film. Essentially, the tragedy of her absence, although quite pivotal to our main protagonists, isn't the driving point behind their actions. Sure, there's a scene where Curtis calls a European phone sex line, one of the many scenes where he finds himself stuck in an empty and cold home, lusting for attention and meaning. Robinson's longing for love is one of the many factors that make his role as Curtis one of the mot memorable of his career, especially set against that of Mo, whose friendship and crush for his only friend Katrin (Line Keller) is the driving force of Mo's motivations. Katrin, who sets course a path for Mo that not only allows him to grow up quicker than most thirteen year-olds, but also allows him to experience the stark cultural differences of growing up in a predominantly white Germany, against a childhood and adolescence in urban America.

As the very simple narrative of Morris flows through each and every scene, it seems that writer/director Hartigan is interested in one thing, and one thing only, and that's the authenticity of his star and his characters and most of all, their raw and highly relatable experiences. During the early drafts, Hartigan had a script in mind that included a white father and son, but it wasn't until Robinson and Christmas involvement that the characters were changed to a African-American father/son duo, navigating life away from the United States with a very interesting and dynamic one/two punch. Never glorifying or emotionally manipulating the trauma of Curtis' and Mo's loss; never romanticizing Katrin and Mo, and never polishing Mo and Curtis' bonds, Morris From America is your average joe character film tightened by simple and real people narrative choices.

Making his transition in Germany as painless and smooth as possible for his son and himself, Curtis enlists the help of a German student/tutor Inka (Carla Juri). Inka and Mo share some tender scenes of truth and heartache, sometimes simplifying one another's life through the simple stories surrounded by their love lives. Mo, who has taken a liking to Katrin, discovers aspects of himself he never knew he was capable of; while Inka makes some serious life choices, thanks to the stark truth and frankness of Mo's young adolescent, real world perspectives, sometimes blending in aspects of an episode of "Kids Say the Darnest Things" for good measure. Luckily for us, the film isn't without its strong female characters, allowing Inka and Mo's relationship to progress into the most maternal relationship we get from the film, yet her choices in the film play a very stark bad cop to Mo's father Curtis, who is sometimes good cop, more often then not, cool cop. Inka provides a much needed female presence in the film, that binds the family-esque flow of Morris.

Now, this is not Will & Jaden Smith, looking & being cool, and attractive. Nope, this about two overweight black males, father and son, and while the father is likable (and excellent in Mr. Robot) he's no fashion model. That's the first unfamiliar aspect. The film is of course mostly about Morris, seldom has the word 'misadventures' been so applicable to a movie.

The second unfamiliar aspect is that father and son Gentry live in boring, nice middle class housing, this is not what is usually seen when we see black people in mainstreaam film. It's usually the 2 extremes, very rich or very poor. There's hardly any serious drama about the non-struggling black middle class, from the suburbs. There's a reason for that: in America, blacks have been RE-segregated to the wrong sideof the tracks, mostly, and there's not a lot of black drama out there. Even this one is both an indie flick AND European made, my point being: big Hollywood bucks aren't going into this type of film.

So, the story is about 13 year old Morris, living in Germany, which seems quite strange to him, he's a fish out of water. He doesn't speak the language which isolates him from other people, especially kids his age. His language tutor sends him to a youth home, to meet other kids. This is something with middling success: he doesn't feel like socializing and the German kids react to him in a stereotyping way ("hey come play basketball, Kobe Bryant", which is both an insult and a compliment at the same time). I will give the German kid credits for making an effort, but I totally understand Morris' hostility, he's out of his element and suspicious. He does befriend a super hot blond girl, Katrin, even though it's unclear why exactly she likes Morris, he's not all that charming towards her. But, their friendship grows, which is a good thing.

Overall, the characters do not do stupid crap, like in most movies these days, and everyone's actions make sense in the context of the story. The teacher does overreact a bit to Morris' rap, but I get that. She acts responsible in calling the father to go pick Morris up. The father getting mad at Morris' being braggy and not true to himself is one of the best scenes.

And when Morris rejects the German boys attempt to include him, their counter rejection is also understandable. When Katrin pranks Morris at the first party, he reacts in a hurt way, which I also get: she thinks this is funny, but he isn't in a self assured place to appreciate the prank. The Germans aren't portrayed stereotypically: The DJ boyfriend getting mad at Morris intruding on him and his girl, I totally get that. He WAS nice to Morris. The only ones which are a bit iffish are the Youth Home leader who clearly lacks people skills to deal with an uprooted 13 year old who's angry about that, and the flutist bully, whose character is too flat.

But other than that: normal people reacting normally.

It's an excellent film, well acted, precisely because it's unusual and it deviates from the mainstream. 10 for 10.

The Melancholic Alcoholic.

"Morris from America" or "Morris aus Amerika" is a German/American co-production from this year and there is also lots of English and German language in here as the action takes place in Germany, but the main character is American. Just like his dad. I as a German was familiar with Löbau and Juri as well as Craig Robinson from the international cast. The writer and director is Chad Hartigan who has also acted in several projects in the past, but maybe this work here and the awards recognition it received so quickly will maybe encourage him to keep making more films in the future. The film runs pretty much exactly for 90 minutes, so it is neither too long or short really. The heart and soul of this one is really Markees Christmas, a definite contender for the best child performance of the year I think. He did really well here and I was as surprised as I was impressed. It's the story of a boy who lost his mother (before the film began) and who lives with his father somewhere in Germany.

A big part of the film is about the two being black. But I personally really did not feel this was the center of the story. There are some not so creative moments like the part about the marijuana or also comments like "Blacks are good dancers", but if you manage to ignore these few weak occasions, you will be in for a pretty good watch. It's a solid coming-of-age story about first love, even if unrequited, but also about friendship. I not only liked the way the title character was written, but also the way the big supporting players were written. Lina Keller plays Katrin and she feels very authentic. Not only do we see a strong performance, but we also see a character that has excellent shades. Early on, you still don't know if she is friend or for with the water gun scene and the Ecstasy reference, but she really likes Morris, even if not in a way he hopes she would. She definitely wants to be his friend and her struggles also have a lot to do with the problems she has with her own parents. She just wants to be loved and appreciated like most girls that age really, but the question if she is looking in the right places is eventually not answered because this movie is about Morris and not about her. And I really need to mention Craig Robinson, who proves here that he is also great with dramatic material, even if he keeps mixing it up with the somewhat entertaining approach he gives to Morris' dad. But the phone sex scene and also the speech at the end in the car show how good he is as these were some of the best moments of the film. It's nice to see he already won at Sundance for it and maybe more awards will follow. I would like it.

Overall, the film needed a bit to get going and really get me invested, but that's sometimes the case and the way you care for the characters around the 30-minute mark and afterward makes it a deserving watch I believe. The only major letdown here was probably Carla Juri, who not only plays a character that added almost nothing to the story (at least the way she portrayed it), but the approach she gave it (restrained yet hammy) was sometimes pretty painful to watch. I have seen the actress in other works in the past already and there is always something that rings fairly false to me. Also looking at what she starred in I always get the impression that she is all about rising on the career ladder and not really about giving convincing portrayals. But like I said, aside from her, the film is almost entirely a success. There are some great moments towards the end (the rap performance, the talk in the car, the letter) that I actually wished they could have gotten some of these in earlier in the film instead bringing us one after the other in the last 20 minutes, but it is all fine I guess. I certainly recommend the watch and this is finally a film about Black people that also offers something more than boring and uninspired race bait, maybe because it eventually is not about the characters' color at all. I certainly recommend the watch.

As someone who lived overseas for two years as an African American adolescent and had to adjust to a new culture, living with my dad and just trying to fit in while being myself, this movie spoke so much to me. I appreciated the simplicity of the film which made it even more real for me. Character development was great and there was a good sense of not knowing what was going to happen next. The actor who played Morris was excellent as well as the actress who played his friend. The movie ran just the right amount of time and the ending was great. In all just a great indie movie. Again I feel like I lived it so I guess I'm bias in my rating... The movie awesome!

What drew me into this movie was just how damn likable Markees Christmas was as Morris. He brought a relatability and a charisma to the character that made him a perfect lead character. I wouldn't say this was my favorite child actor performance of the year, but Christmas did an excellent job carrying the film, especially since this was his big screen debut. But I thought Craig Robinson was the highlight of the movie. He was truly fantastic. He was a great anchor of the film, perfectly playing a father struggling to still connect with his aging son. A lot of Robinson's acting is subtle. He gives just a little indication of what he's thinking, and it goes a long way for inferring what's going on in his head. Robinson proves himself in this film to be more than just a comedic talent, but to also have some dramatic chops. I would love to see him explore that avenue more in his movies.

13 year old Morris Gentry is the new kid in his Heidelberg, Germany school. He likes to rap with his soccer coach widower father Curtis (Craig Robinson). Father and son struggle to make new friends. Morris speaks limited German and has private lessons with Inka. Classmate Katrin takes a liking to him but he gets picked on by the bullies. She volunteers him to rap in the school talent show which only exacerbates his teacher's dislike. He gets pulled into her world of drugs and parties.

Markees Christmas is a young amateur in the lead role. There's a quiet charisma about him. The story is pretty simple. There is a healthy dose of subtle racism and it's your basic White Girl Siren. Craig Robinson surprises me with a bit of German although he's not doing really big acting. It's a nice solid coming-of-age story.