Touch and Go: Part II

MORRIS FROM AMERICA (B+) - Here's another kid who feels like an outcast among his fellow high school students. Morris, at least, has a pretty good excuse. He's living in Germany with his widowed father (a soccer coach), and he's a black child coping with an Aryan paradise.

Markees Christmas -- like Royalty Hightower earlier this year in "The Fits" -- carries the film while making a powerful screen debut as 13-year-old Morris Gentry, a frustrated wannabe rap star and horny little adolescent. He's on the chubby side and has trouble blending in socially, showing no confidence in his German-language skills.

He has a caring but awkward relationship with his father, Curtis (comedian Craig Robinson), and he is not above stretching the truth with his dad, especially if it means he can hang out with the beautiful older teen Katrin (another newcomer, Lina Keller, bringing to mind a young Julie Delpy). Katrina strings him along but genuinely seems to like Morris' company. Katrin is blond and skinny, and she looks cool smoking and wearing aviator sunglasses. She has a charming accent and knows how to make her little friend swoon, preferring to refer to him in casual conversation the way he first introduced himself to her, as "Morris From America."

But Katrin has an older boyfriend who rides a motorcycle and spins records as a DJ, which is tough for any boy to compete with, especially an inexperienced one who gets picked on incessantly at the youth center, especially by a little prick who likes to call him Kobe. (The daily indignities of Morris having to serve as the lone repository of stereotypes and curiosities is handled well here.) Katrin invites him to a cool-people party but then embarrasses him in front of his peers. She lets him tag along on the DJ's road tour but then abandons him in Frankfurt after the first stop. But she's such a cute and alluring tease that you can't blame Morris for allowing himself to be cruelly strung along.

Morris does most of his bonding (and flirting) with his 20-something German tutor, Inka, played by the vibrant Carla Juri from 2014's "Wetlands." Juri, a true force of nature, tamps down her energy and broods behind oversized eyeglasses. She lures Christmas onto a couple of dramatic ledges, and their connection serves as the core of the film. When he finds himself in a bind, you can guess whom he'll call.

And while Robinson is fine -- like most comedians, dramatic acting comes relatively easy to him -- there's not much depth to Curtis, who also must work hard to connect with his German colleagues. Robinson's best scenes show a frustrated Curtis trying to bond with his son but coming off as a geezer and a goof. The boy just doesn't appreciate a slow-jam rap from 20 years ago, and instead would rather emulate more modern artists bragging about bitches and ho's.

The narrative also stutters at times. A few idiot-plot devices are needed to goose things along. (No parent in the modern era of texting would ever have to wonder if a child who stays out all night is safe; and for convenience sake, Morris improbably loses his cell phone, merely to ratchet up the tension. But writer-director has a good ear for dialogue and an eye for cultural sensitivities, and he draws solid performances from four pretty raw actors, allowing them to create a believable world where it's never easy for a hormone-raging kid to find his voice and his passions.

BONUS TRACKS
The opening track, Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear" from 1994:



And from the closing credits, Jeru the Damaja with "Come Clean":