Out of Step

FATIMA (2016) (B) - Divorced cleaning lady Fatima (Soria Zeroual) jousts with her young-adult daughters across the generational divide. The older one is starting medical school; the younger one is a lazy high school student.

Philippe Faucon has spent his career studying immigrants in France, and here he takes his time letting us get to know Fatima and her dreams -- not just for herself, but for her daughters. She toggles between prudery and pride. Nesrine (Zita Hanrot) is full of doubt about making the leap to a higher class. Younger Souad (Kenza Noah Aiche) seeks to rebel in anti-intellectual ways.

Fatima keeps a diary and takes French writing lessons, perhaps surprising herself with her thoughts and ideas. Each woman's story unfolds in touching ways.

TYREL (B-minus) - Psych! What if you made a horror film but nothing horrible or horrific happens? Sebastian Silva ("Crystal Fairy," "Nasty Baby") pulls off the ultimate misdirection with this mind-fuck about a black man joining his friend for an otherwise all-white-male weekend of bro debauchery in the Catskills.

He's not really the only "minority" at the party. The host and one other guest are apparently Latin American, and an older gay man is there too.

One of Silva's assertions is that the opposite of black culture is the music of R.E.M. (three songs featured here, including a menacing "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"). Of course this and other micro-aggressions add up for our hero, Tyler (Jason Mitchell). (The title is an intentional typo, based on one character's botching of his name -- again a seemingly innocuous event.

Not enough happens here, and the improvised dialogue never sizzles like a more reliable Apatovian exercise would. Christopher Abbott (HBO's "Girls") can't find the right tone, Mitchell is solid but unspectacular, and not even Michael Cera's loopy charm can elevate this above average.