FILM GUIDE

NEW FILMS 34
MORRIS FROM AMERICA
STARTS FRIDAY, AUGUST 26
REGULAR ADMISSION PRICES
“Lovely… this understated, generous film
quietly sneaks up on you.” – Bilge Ebiri, New
York Magazine
MIA MADRE
STARTS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
REGULAR ADMISSION PRICES
“A tremendously smart and enjoyable movie.” –
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
A heartwarming and crowd-pleasing coming-of-age
comedy with a unique spin, Morris from America centers
on Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas, in an incredible
breakout performance), a 13-year-old who has just relocated
with his single father, Curtis (Craig Robinson, “The Office”),
to Heidelberg, Germany. Morris, who fancies himself the
next Notorious B.I.G., is a complete fish-out-of-water—a
budding hip-hop star in an EDM world. To complicate matters
further, Morris quickly falls hard for his cool, rebellious,
15-year-old classmate Katrin. Morris sets out against all odds
to take the hip-hop world by storm and win the girl of his
dreams. Written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Chad
Hartigan (This is Martin Bonner), Morris from America won
two prizes at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival: the Waldo Salt
Screenwriting Award and a Special Jury Award for Robinson,
who has been receiving tremendous praise for his touching and
nuanced performance in his first dramatic role. Poignant and
funny in equal measure, Morris from America is a delightfully
original take on growing up, following your dreams, and finding
your voice. (Dir. by Chad Hartigan, 2016, Germany/USA, in
English and German with subtitles, 91 mins., Rated R)
A revisiting of the themes of life, cinema, family ties and guilt
that drive much of his work, celebrated filmmaker Nanni
Moretti’s (We Have a Pope) latest comedy/drama Mia Madre is
a major return to form for the Italian director. Margherita
(Margherita Buy) is a director shooting a film in Italy with the
famous and self-important American actor, Barry Huggins
(John Turturro, providing madcap comic relief), who is a
major headache on set, and whose Italian is clearly nowhere
near where it needs to be to meet the demands of his role.
Away from the chaotic film set, Margherita tries to hold her
life together, despite her mother’s serious illness and her
daughter’s rocky adolescence. With Mia Madre, director Moretti
(who also stars in the film as Margherita’s abrasive brother) has
created a seductive and witty autobiographical blend of comedy
and pathos that serves as both a witty look at the fragility of
existence, as well as an affectionate (and sometimes not so
affectionate) ode to choosing a life in cinema. (Dir. by Nanni
Moretti, 2015, Italy/ France/ Germany, in Italian/ French/ English
with subtitles, 106 mins., Rated R)